A US service member in Afghanistan died Thursday from “a wound sustained during a combat operation,” the US military said in a statement.
The American service member was wounded during an operation in eastern Afghanistan. An Afghan security force member was killed and several Afghans were wounded during the incident, according to US Forces Afghanistan, which oversees US troops in the country.
In Department of Defense policy, the name of the service member is being withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin is notified, the US military said in the statement.
This is the fourth American service member killed in Afghanistan in 2018.
US combat operations in eastern Afghanistan typically target the local ISIS affiliate and other international terrorist organizations there as part of the US-Afghan counterterrorism mission.
That mission is separate from the larger non-combat NATO-led training and advisory mission, known as Resolute Support.
While US deaths in Afghanistan have become rarer in recent years, Thursday’s incident comes less than a week after another US service member, Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel, was killed in what the US military is calling “an apparent insider attack.”
On Thursday, NATO allies and operational partners agreed to sustain the non-combat advisory mission in Afghanistan “until conditions indicate a change in the mission is appropriate.”
