This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
December 23, 2019
At least 20 American service members have lost their lives in combat operations in Afghanistan this year, with the latest fatality occurring on Monday.
The death is a grim reminder that more Americans have died fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups in 2019 than in any other year since 2014, when the Pentagon announced the 'end of combat operations' in the country.
Thirteen troops were killed in 2018, and 11 in 2017.
The American-led mission in Afghanistan has provided little detail about the episode or the service member's identity, pending notification of next of kin.
The service member's death comes at a politically tumultuous moment, as Gen. Austin S. Miller, the commander of the American and NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, navigates support for the Afghan military.
Gen. Miller is also contending with a potential troop withdrawal and restarted peace negotiations between American diplomats and Taliban officials in Qatar.
Earlier this year, an initial agreement between the two sides was abandoned by President Trump after a car bomb in Kabul killed an American soldier, a NATO soldier, and 10 others.
Two soldiers were killed in November when their helicopter crashed in Logar Province while providing air support for American troops below.
And this month, the Taliban launched a daring dawn attack on Bagram Air Base, the largest American base in Afghanistan.
There are 12,000 to 13,000 American troops in Afghanistan, though Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has said that the number might drop to 8,600 absent any agreement with the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Esper stated, 'We have a mission in Afghanistan. So, until we are confident that mission is complete, we will retain a presence to do that.'
The United States' strategy in Afghanistan has changed little in the last year, and is rarely mentioned by either the Pentagon or the American-led mission in the country.
