Pentagon identifies soldiers killed in Afghan suicide attack

The Pentagon has identified two soldiers killed in Afghanistan this week in a suicide attack in Kandahar.

Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter, 23, of Columbus, Ind., and Spc. Christopher Michael Harris, 25, of Jackson Springs, N.C., were killed when a car bomb detonated near their convoy, the Pentagon said in a release late Thursday.

Both were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

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The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Wednesday attack, in which a small pickup truck laden with explosives detonated near a NATO convoy.

In addition to Harris and Hunter’s deaths, four U.S. soldiers were injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, the NATO mission in Afghanistan announced Friday morning that a suicide attack in Kabul province Thursday night injured two more U.S. troops. The attack also killed one Georgian soldier and two Afghan civilians.

Three Georgian soldiers, one Afghan interpreter and seven Afghan civilians were also injured in the attack.

Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, offered his condolences to Georgia, which is the largest non-NATO contributor to the mission, and pledged the mission’s continued commitment to the people of Afghanistan. 

“The Afghan people want peace,” Nicholson said in a statement. “Time and again, the Taliban prove that they have no regard for civilian and non-combatants. The Taliban are the enemy of the Afghan people. Resolute Support is firmly committed to supporting the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces as they stabilize Afghanistan.”

The United States has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan on a dual mission of training, advising and assisting Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban and conducting counterterrorism operations against groups such as al Qaeda. 

The Pentagon has recommended sending a few thousand more troops to the country to break what Nicholson and others have called a stalemate. But President Trump has been struggling to finalize a plan and has gotten frustrated to the point that he reportedly suggested firing Nicholson.