US Troops In Afghanistan; The Dangerous Mission Continues

President Obama recently announced the U.S. will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through 2016 and 5,500 in 2017 in a “train and assist” role. But, the death of an American soldier on just such a mission in Iraq last week proves that these troops will not be out of harm’s way.

Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, a highly decorated Delta Force leader and father of four, was shot dead during a rescue mission on an ISIS-held facility in Iraq. He was one of 30 American special operations soldiers who swept into the facility along with Kurdish troops on five U.S. helicopters. Seventy ISIS-held hostages were freed during an intense firefight, and 20 ISIS militants were killed.

Wheeler had survived 14 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it was the "train and assist" mission, a mission that was not supposed to involve U.S. troops in combat, that ultimately took his life. He is the first American to die in combat since the battle against ISIS began last year.

The train-and-assist mission in Iraq is much the same as the one Obama described for Afghanistan earlier this month, and Wheeler’s death is a sobering reminder that U.S. troops in Afghanistan face grave danger. 

-ABC News