Series of Lapses Led to Army Soldier’s Death in Afghanistan
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff and John Ismay
Oct. 22, 2018
WASHINGTON — The death of an Army soldier after a blast in southern Afghanistan this month was the result of a series of oversights by a military unit that frequently used a small strip of desert as a patrol route and observation post, prompting Taliban militants to bury explosives nearby, military officials familiar with the matter said.
The death of the soldier, Specialist James A. Slape, casts an unwelcome spotlight on the United States’ prolonged presence in Afghanistan. Despite the Pentagon’s claims that American troops are mostly relegated to advising and assisting their Afghan counterparts, they still undertake some of the same types of missions common at the height of the conflict, when more than 100,000 Western troops were deployed there.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/world/middleeast/james-slape-death-afghanistan.html
