NATO Identifies Soldiers Killed In Afghan Combat As U.S. Special Operations Forces

More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to topple the Taliban.

The NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan has identified two military personnel killed in the country as members of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command, also known as the Green Berets.

The military on August 22 identified the two killed in action a day earlier as Master Sergeant Luis F. Deleon-Figueroa, 31, and Master Sergeant Jose J. Gonzalez, 35.

Officials said the two died as a result of small-arms fire in northern Faryab Province.

Deleon-Figueroa served in the army for more than 13 years and became a Green Beret in 2014. He was deployed twice to Afghanistan.

Gonzalez was posthumously promoted to the master-sergeant rank.

U.S. and Taliban negotiators are meeting in Qatar in a new round of talks with the goal of ending the nearly 18-year Afghan war.

The United States formally ended its Afghan combat mission in 2014, but about 14,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, mainly training and advising government forces battling the Taliban, an affiliate of the Islamic State extremist group, and other militants.

More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to topple the Taliban.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP