Insider Attack: Two U.S. Paratroopers Shot Dead in Afghanistan
NATO: Two U.S. service members were killed July 29, 2019 in Afghanistan. In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the name of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete.
Panther-brigade: It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the loss of two Paratroopers from the Brigade during combat operations.
When appropriate, further information will be shared through the Army’s and the Brigade’s official information channels.
Art Sellers, COL, IN, Commanding
Two U.S. service members have been killed in action in Afghanistan in what appears to be an insider attack, Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul of VOA reported:
The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission said Monday that two Americans are dead, withholding additional information pending notification of their families. A U.S. official later confirmed the deaths were the result of a so-called “green on blue” attack, during which an Afghan service member or an attacker wearing an Afghan uniform, fires on U.S. or allied forces.
The initial U.S. assessment followed claims by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Twitter that the Americans died when an Afghan soldier turned his gun on them in a military camp in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province.
Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م )@Zabehulah_M33
#خـــــبر:
امروز در داخل کمپ (بیس) تناوچه ولسوالی شاولیکوت ولایت قندهار یک عسکر با احساس افغان بر عساکر امریکایی از نزدیکی آتش کشود.
۴ عسکر اشغالگر امریکایی به هلاکت رسیدند، ۲ تن زخم برداشتند.
در فیرهای متقابل عسکر با احساس نیز زخمی گردید.
احمدی9511:52 AM – Jul 29, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy15 people are talking about this
The Taliban also claimed at least one other soldier was killed and that several others were wounded, though those claims could not be confirmed.
With the two confirmed deaths, at least 14 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to a tally by the website iCasualties.org. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan in 2018.
“Problems don’t miraculously disappear. We, and other oversight bodies, have identified problems that affected reconstruction. And some of these problems could affect lasting peace,” he said.
U.S., NATO efforts
SIGAR estimates the U.S. alone has spent about $18 billion to equip Afghanistan’s security forces, buying more than 600,000 weapons, 70,000 vehicles and more than 200 aircraft.
But its audits have found that U.S. and NATO efforts have often been unorganized, with Afghan forces suffering as a result.
Specifically, SIGAR blamed an eight-year lag in shifting Afghan forces to the latest standardized NATO weaponry for an ammunition shortage that left them unable to repel a Taliban attack in Ghazni province in 2018.
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