Two more U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, as the longest war in American history continues to rage on for no good reason.
The names of these fallen soldiers have not been released to the public at the present time, but the Taliban has already claimed responsibility for their deaths. It came as a result of an ambush in the Wardak province, which is roughly 60 miles south of Kabul, the Afghani capital.
Two months ago, three marines were killed by a car bombing outside of the Bagram Air Field. This happened only three days before the soldiers of the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division were scheduled to return home from their deployment. Nine other individuals, including three Americans, were harmed in the attack.
Right now, approximately 14,000 American troops remain in the country. Roughly 8,500 of the troops are tasked with training Afghanis to stabilize the nation while the rest are apart of a coalition to defeat ISIS and Al Queda targets. There is no evidence that their goals are being met, as the war begins to look like a permanent occupation.
The Trump administration appears to understand that the Afghan war is not a winning proposition and is engaging in peace talks to remove forces. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to the nation this week to continue the dialogue.
“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 said Tuesday during an surprise visit to Afghanistan.
“Regarding terrorism, we’ve made real progress and are nearly ready to conclude a draft text outlining the Taliban’s commitments to join fellow Afghans in ensuring Afghan soil never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists,” he added.
We'll start the next round of talks on Jun 29. Based on my recent visits to #Afghanistan and #Qatar, I believe all sides want rapid progress. #AfghanPeaceProcess
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) June 22, 2019
The progress toward peace cannot come soon enough, as over 2,400 U.S. military personnel have been killed in the war with more than 20,000 being wounded during the nearly 18 years that the war has been waged.
“It is in every regional player’s best interest that this peace process move forward after 18 years,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo is telling the truth, as Afghanistan has long been referred to as the graveyard of empires for a reason.
