U.S. Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

By Maggie Penman / NPR

Published April 8, 2017 at 9:57 AM PDT

This story was published more than 7 years ago.

According to Reuters, U.S. officials say the Islamic State in Afghanistan is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and Kunar province.

An American soldier was killed in Afghanistan late Saturday, according to a statement posted on Twitter by the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.

A spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan said that the soldier was part of an operation against ISIS-Khorasan, a branch of the Islamic State operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The same spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the soldier was a special forces operator.

The U.S. and Afghanistan have been conducting special operations against ISIS-Khorasan for many months. In July of 2016 a U.S. drone strike killed the group's leader for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed Khan.

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The statement released Saturday gave little detail about the circumstances of the soldier's death, but said that more information would be released "as appropriate."