The Pentagon has identified the two soldiers killed in a firefight on Tuesday in Afghanistan as Master Sgt. Micheal B. Riley, 32, from Heilbronn, Germany, and Sgt. James G. Johnston, 24, from Trumansburg, New York.
Both soldiers died from wounds they sustained from small arms fire during a Taliban attack in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. the Pentagon said.
Few details have been made available about the incident, which is under investigation.
Their deaths are the 10th and 11th U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan this year, nine of them from hostile fire. There are still about 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan advising and assisting Afghanistan’s security forces in their fight against the Taliban and an ISIS affiliate in eastern Afghanistan.
For much of this year the United States and Taliban representatives have been engaged in peace talks in Qatar, the next round of talks will begin next week.
During a visit to Afghanistan this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed hope that a draft agreement could be reached by September that, among other things, could lead to the removal of American troops from Afghanistan. However, a major sticking point has been that Afghanistan’s government has not participated in the talks, with the Taliban refusing to negotiate with Afghan leaders.
US Army
Master Sgt. Micheal B. Riley, a Green Beret serving as a communications sergeant, was assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was serving on his sixth deployment to Afghanistan.
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