Below are excerpts from a January 8, 2015 Stars and Stripes article, "Expect more US casualties in Afghanistan, top NATO commander says" on the 2015 conditions of the U.S. military troops in Afghanistan. As American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines are still scattered about Afghanistan, we are finding that they still very much appreciate care packages from home.
“All of us as commanders have reminded our senior leadership ... the war in Afghanistan has not ended, (just) the combat mission for NATO,” Gen. Philip Breedlove told Stars and Stripes.
“It’s hard to say, but we are going to continue to have (American) casualties” in Afghanistan, Breedlove said in an interview at Bagram Airfield.
Not all of the roughly 10,600 U.S. troops in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. operation Freedom’s Sentinel are assigned to Resolute Support. Some will conduct counterterrorism and related operations.
While American and NATO troops are no longer the main fighting force in Afghanistan, U.S. troops will continue to be in the line of fire on a regular basis during the follow-on mission, Maj. Gen. John Murray, deputy commander for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, said Tuesday.
Despite those risks, American troops in postwar Afghanistan “can’t just sit on the FOB” and completely disengage from the security threats facing Afghan forces, Murray said, referring to the 23 remaining U.S. forward operating bases scattered across Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani suggested Washington re-examine its future plans because of a resurgent Taliban and the possible threat from other insurgent groups in the region.
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