The military in Afghanistan on Thursday confirmed that an American soldier was killed and eight others were wounded in a deadly insider attack.
The gunman was killed.
This marks the first U.S. service member killed as part of the Resolute Support mission, which began Jan. 1 as Afghan National Security Forces took over security of the country and the U.S. and NATO transitioned to an advise-and-assist mission.
The Army has not released the name of the soldier who was killed, pending notification of the soldier's next-of-kin.
Resolute Support and Afghan authorities are reviewing the incident and will release additional information as appropriate, the statement said.
"We remain committed to assisting our Afghan partners in achieving sustainable security and stability," according to the statement. "This attack will not weaken our resolve."
The shooting happened about 1 p.m. on Wednesday in Jalalabad, said Maj. Gen. Mike Murray, deputy commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan-Support, during an interview Wednesday with Army Times.
The troops were part of a security detail for a meeting between Afghan and U.S. officials.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families as well," said Murray, who also is the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division of Fort Stewart, Georgia.
The soldier killed Wednesday is the second member of the coalition to be killed in Afghanistan since Resolute Support began. A Turkish soldier was killed Feb. 26.
The attack is the second insider attack this year. An Afghan soldier killed three American contractors on January 29. The shooter was also killed in that incident, The Associated Press reported.
The number of insider attacks spiked in 2012, when 64 coalition troops were killed and 102 wounded in 48 attacks, according to military officials. In 2013, there were 17 deaths in 15 insider attacks. Thirty-nine troops were wounded in those attacks.
The number of attacks has since decreased as the U.S. and coalition draw down in Afghanistan, but the threat remains as troops work side-by-side with their Afghan counterparts.
There were seven insider attacks in 2014, resulting in four coalition troops killed and 20 others wounded, officials in Afghanistan said.
Among those killed was Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the first American general officer to be killed by combat fire since Sept. 11, 2001.
Greene was gunned down Aug. 5 by an Afghan military police soldier during a visit to the Marshal Fahim National Defense University in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. The shooter fired about 30 rounds through a barracks bathroom window into a large group of coalition forces. Eighteen coalition and Afghan forces were wounded in the attack.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
