Two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan in an insider attack.

US soldiers in Afghanistan. BBC/EPA

Two US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in an insider attack by an Afghan soldier. BBC. The soldier opened fire on the soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Only the two Americans were killed and the attacker was injured. The deaths occurred as President Trump has stepped up negotiations with the Taliban and Afghan government to withdraw US troops. There are 14,000 US troops left in Afghanistan. 

My Comment:

This is far from the first insider attack by an Afghan soldier that has killed or wounded US soldiers. Indeed, this is one of the major ways US troops get hurt in Afghanistan as they are no longer in a front line combat role. 

These attacks are hard to defend against. Recruits are screened for loyalty but you can never tell what people think. If a person hates Americans or is working for the Taliban or ISIS it's hard to tell until they attack. US soldiers also have a degree of trust with the Afghan men they are training and it is a huge betrayal for these men to attack US troops. 

It's unclear when we will fully withdraw from Afghanistan. Trump has basically admitted that he's not willing to pay the price to win the war. Trump said he wasn't willing to kill 10 million people to win the war and I don't think even that would be enough to win the war. A military solution is just not viable. 

Negotiation seems to be progressing. Amazing as it is, we are actively talking with the Taliban despite being at war since 2001. Part of this is due to the common threat of ISIS, which has a major stronghold in the Afghan mountains and is attacking all sides of the conflict. It seems very possible that a peace deal could be made and the US could withdraw the rest of the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. 

The bad news is that the Afghan government is basically losing the war. They haven't been able to beat back the Taliban and if it wasn't for US forces giving them some backbone and the fact that ISIS is attacking both sides, the government would have likely already fallen. Hopefully the war can end soon and the US deaths will finally stop.