Pentagon releases name of soldier killed in Afghanistan

The Pentagon has identified the Green Beret killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday during an operation against that country’s branch of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Staff Sgt. Aaron R. Butler, 27, of Monticello, Utah, was killed in Nangarhar province by “an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations,” the Pentagon said in a news release Thursday night.

Butler was assigned to the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Camp Williams, Utah.

The incident, in which American and Afghan troops were also injured, is under investigation, the Pentagon added.

The Utah National Guard, of which the 19th Special Forces Group is a part, said Butler was killed and 11 others were injured during a building-clearing mission. Initial reports indicate the building was wired with explosives and that the soldiers were hit when they entered, the Guard said in a press release.

“Ultimately what we do is very dangerous business,” Maj. Gen. Jeff Burton, Utah’s adjutant general, said in a statement. “Our hearts are broken when we lose one of our own. We know these people personally, they are our friends, we respect them and it’s very painful.”

Butler is the 11th U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan this year, seven of whom died in operations against ISIS.

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

The Trump administration has been wrestling for months with coming up with a new strategy for the 16-year-old war that top generals say has become stalemated.

President Trump is headed to Camp David on Friday to discuss the strategy with his national security team.