Pentagon: US troops in combat ‘situation’ in Afghanistan

“This is a combat situation, but they’re not in the lead”, Cook said during a briefing. They can accompany, they play a support role.

Staff Sgt. Matthew McClintock, 30, of Des Moines, Iowa, was on his third combat tour when he was killed Tuesday in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. One of the soldiers was killed and two others wounded, and a helicopter was virtually destroyed.

U.S. Special Forces are shown here in training in January. “But U.S. troops are still authorized to carry out counterterrorism raids and combat missions to defend themselves”, the CBS News report stated.

But a USA military official in Afghanistan disputed that the quick-reaction force was delayed.

Cook said that helicopter has been transported to Kandahar Air Field, the largest US base in the area after Camp Bastion was turned over to the Afghan government.

“This was a circumstance in which they, as I understand it, came under fire, and the incident took place, and Staff Sgt. McClintock lost his life, unfortunately”.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

Lawhorn said the Afghan military’s mission to clear areas around Sangin and Marja continues, and so is the U.S. Special Operations mission to train and advise Afghan commandos.

“We conducted 12 airstrikes in all to support forces in contact – would not characterize the SF advisers and Afghan SOF as ‘pinned down, ‘” he said.

Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke is a former Navy SEAL commander.

The blog reported the soldiers’ command would not authorize air support from an AC-130 gunship circling overhead, due to fears of collateral damage. “Our analysis again indicates that it’s not consistent with the North Korean claims of a hydrogen bomb test”, Cook told reporters.

“There was an effort to respond as quickly as possible to this particular situation given the ongoing fighting that was taking place”, he said.

“Despite the fact the Obama Administration continually says we are not in combat in Afghanistan, it is very clear we are”.