KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants killed two U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on the anniversary of 9/11, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces in the country that sheltered al-Qaeda while it plotted the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The NATO-led force said one soldier was killed when insurgents attacked a compound. The separate U.S.-led coalition said a second service member died in combat. No other details were released, but a Western military official told reporters both troops were American.
Thursday’s deaths bring to 113 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan in 2008, surpassing last year’s record toll of 111, according to an Associated Press tally. Last year’s count included one American killed just over the border in Pakistan.
Afghanistan was the launching pad for al-Qaeda’s terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In response, U.S. forces invaded in October 2001 and drove the Taliban out of power in weeks.
At a ceremony in Kabul commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks, Col. Cody Smith said the date is a reminder of the terror experienced by those killed in the U.S. attacks.
“That is what drives me, to fight for freedom all over the world because those people that died were in terror of seeing the fire, of seeing . . . their lives being taken from them,” Cody said. “We should fight, so that freedom reigns and terror does not.”
