Kabul, Afghanistan – Two soldiers of the US armed forces they died and two others were injured When a bomb exploded while passing his vehicle in southern Afghanistan, the US military command said in a statement on Saturday.
According to the rules of the Department of Defense, the United States Army did not identify the elements.
The Taliban immediately claimed the attack. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi said the attack occurred in the southern province of Kandahar.
More than 2,400 US military have died in Afghanistan. Last year it was one of the deadliest for US forces with 23 soldiers killed, even though Washington had peace negotiations with the Taliban.
The most recent attack threatens the current attempts to restart intermittent peace negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.
The US envoy for peace, Zalmay Khalilzad, has pressured the insurgents to accept a ceasefire or at least reduce their attacks. That would give a window in which the US government and the Taliban could reach an agreement that would include the withdrawal of all US troops in the region. That deal would also create a roadmap for direct negotiations between Afghans to plan a future of the country after the war.
On Saturday morning, both NATO and the Afghan authorities had confirmed the incident, not to mention the deaths. In a brief statement, a NATO spokesperson said authorities are still “assessing the situation and more information will be provided as it becomes available.”
An Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to inform the press, said the attack occurred in the Dand district in Kandahar province.
Currently, the Taliban controls or resists in about half of Afghan territory. The combatants continue to carry out attacks almost daily against forces from Afghanistan and the United States, even though they have had a dialogue with Washington at the same time. Hundreds of Afghan civilians have died in crossfire or by bombs planted by combatants beside the roads.
In November, two US soldiers lost their lives when the helicopter in which they were traveling crashed in the province of Logar.
The United States currently has about 13,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Nearly 5,000 of them carry out anti-terrorist missions.
US Ambassador John Bass left Kabul last week, which ended his two-year tenure as the highest-ranking US diplomat.
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The Associated Press journalist Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this office.
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