The Taliban said their fighters killed a U.S. service member in Afghanistan on Monday and posted photographs of a blood-soaked backpack and the identity card of a American soldier to prove it.
The U.S. military said in a statement an American service member was “killed in action”, but gave no details and withheld the name of the service member until the next of kin were informed.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said they killed the U.S. force member in a blast in the northern province of Kunduz.
“Our fighters killed a U.S. force member and injured an Afghan commando,” Mujahid said in a text message, which included the photographs.
About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces carry out counter-terrorism operations against Islamist militant groups.
More than a dozen foreign force members have been killed in Afghanistan in 2019.
The United States has been in negotiations with Taliban militants over the past year on a deal under which the United States could withdraw its forces from its longest war in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.
