American soldier killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. Special Forces soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan during a joint operation with Afghan forces against affiliates of the Islamic State group, officials said Sunday.

“The soldier was mortally wounded late Saturday during an operation in Nangarhar province,” Capt. Bill Salvin, a spokesman for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said.

The death was the first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan from hostile fire since the beginning of the year, according to a tally kept by the website iCasualties. Last year, 13 U.S. soldiers died in the country, 10 because of enemy fire.

In total, 2,217 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001 and another 20,000 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

About 8,400 U.S. soldiers remain in Afghanistan, carrying out two missions — one under NATO’s mission to train and assist Afghan forces, and a second counterterrorism mission focused on al-Qaida and affiliates of IS.

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has expressed the need for thousands more U.S. soldiers ahead of what is expected to be a tough fighting season.

Saturday’s operation happened in Achin district, which has remained the hotbed of an IS affiliate even as operations by Afghan and American forces have struck heavy blows to the group in neighboring areas.

Jawid Salim, a spokesman for the Afghan commando forces, said the U.S. soldier was accompanying Afghan special forces in an operation in Shadal Bazaar and he was mortally wounded by a roadside bomb.