2 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan; Taliban says they died in an ambush
Two U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.
The identities of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The statement did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province, the New York Times reported.
The deaths occurred one day after an unannounced visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is holding direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, the Qatari capital. The seventh round of the talks are scheduled to begin on Saturday.
"We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so," Pompeo told reporters during an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The presence of troops in Afghanistan is "conditions-based, he said.
The Taliban refuse to talk directly with the Afghan government, which it considers a puppet of the U.S.
More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The coalition sought to crush the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. makes up the overwhelming majority of 14,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan. About 100,000 troops were stationed there at the height of the war.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan; Taliban says they died in an ambush
