WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. service member has been killed and another wounded in an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan, according to a statement Monday from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
Resolute Support and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Commanding General Scott Miller says “the sacrifice of our service member, who volunteered for a mission to Afghanistan to protect his country is a tragic loss for all who knew and all who will now never know him.”
He added, “Our duty now is to honor him, care for his family and continue our mission.”
The statement said the service member was the sixth American killed in Afghanistan this year.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration was monitoring the situation and President Donald Trump had been briefed by Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The wounded service member was said to be in stable condition.
The names of the service members were not released.
We’ve been in country far too long. The problem is, of course, that everyone knows the President who manages a troop withdrawal will get the blame for any US terrorist attack that originates there. It seems to me that’s principally what keeps this futile effort going.
. . . and also the blame for “losing” the perpetually around-the-corner victory that they keep predicting but cannot actually seem to achieve.
Yes, exactly.
The worst of it, in addition to all the lives lost in a noble but misguided attempt to serve their country, is that the next time we have idiot politicians intent on using the sledge hammer of our military to try to solve an intractable problem that requires something more complicated and delicate, it will still be considered unpatriotic to recall and bring up the current debacles.
I can only assume that “insider attack” is some term of art known to those concerned–perhaps implying that the killing occurred inside the country of Afghanistan? Nothing in the post suggests who beside the deceased was inside what.