KABUL, Afghanistan: Three American service members and a US contractor were killed when their convoy hit a roadside bomb on Monday near the main US base in Afghanistan, the US forces said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The US and NATO Resolute Support mission said the four Americans were killed near the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, while three others were wounded in the explosion. The base in Bagram district is located in northern Parwan province and serves as the main US air facility in the country.
The wounded were evacuated and are receiving medical care, the statement said. It added that in accordance with US Department of Defense policy, the names of service members killed in action were being withheld until after the notification of next of kin.
In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said they launched the attack and that one of their suicide bombers detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO base. The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
Also on Monday, at least five members of the country’s security forces were killed when the Taliban attacked a joint army and police base in northern Sari Pul province.
Zabihullah Amani, the provincial governor’s spokesman, said the night attack in Sangcharak district also wounded seven other troops.
On Tuesday, local officials said at least five Afghan civilians were wounded in the commotion after the attack on the American convoy. Four were passers-by and the fifth was a driver of a car going down the road, said Abdul Raqib Kohistani, the Bagram district police chief. Abdul Shakor Qudosi, the district administrative chief in Bagram, said American soldiers opened fire immediately after their convoy was bombed.
Monday’s US fatalities bring to seven the number of US soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscoring the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America’s longest.
There are about 14,000 US forces in Afghanistan, supporting embattled Afghan forces as they struggle on two fronts — facing a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over almost half the country and also the Islamic State affiliate, which has sought to expand its footprint in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed “caliphate” has crumbled in Syria and Iraq.
Last year, 13 US service members were killed in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a US puppet.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have agreed to take part in an all-Afghan gathering later this month in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. But the Taliban say they will not recognize any government official attending the gathering as a representative of the Kabul government, only as an individual Afghan participant.
Taliban roadside bomb kills 4 Americans in Afghanistan
Taliban roadside bomb kills 4 Americans in Afghanistan
- The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack
- The US and NATO Resolute Support mission said the four Americans were killed near Bagram Air Base
‘Somali fraud’ in Minnesota has ‘pillaged an estimated $19bn from the American taxpayer’: Trump
- ‘This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation,’ he says during State of the Union address
- Vice President J.D. Vance will head ‘war on fraud’ that will expand nationwide
CHICAGO: “Somali fraud” in Minnesota has stolen at least $19 billion in state and federal funds, US President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
He announced that Vice President J.D. Vance will head the “war on fraud,” beginning with Minnesota.
Trump was expanding on an announcement he made several months ago creating a National Fraud Enforcement division in the Justice Department.
The new division will target allegations of “massive and complex fraud” involving misused federal funds in state programs in Minnesota and elsewhere, he said.
“But when it comes to the corruption that’s plundering America … there’s been no more stunning example than in Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” he added.
“We have all the information, and in actuality the number is much higher than that, and California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse.”
Trump said: “This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we’re working on it like you wouldn’t believe.”
Regarding the “war on fraud,” he said Vance will “get it done,” adding: “Find enough of that fraud (and) we’ll actually have a balanced budget overnight. (The budget deficit) will go very quickly. That’s the kind of money you’re talking about.”
He said: “The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.
“Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA, and it’s the American people who pay the price in higher medical bills, car insurance, rent, taxes, and perhaps most importantly, crime.”
Trump vowed: “We’ll take care of this problem … We aren’t playing games.”
Under his announcement, the new division will report directly to the White House through Vance, rather than through traditional Justice Department channels.
While starting in Minnesota, Trump emphasized that the anti-fraud initiative will expand nationwide, including California, Washington State and Ohio.
More than 260,000 Somalis living in the US, nearly 100,000 of them in Minnesota. About 50,000 live in the 5th Congressional District, represented by Somali-American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
In 2024, then-President Joe Biden ordered investigations into allegations of Somali fraud, mainly involving the misuse of COVID-19 funding intended to help businesses harmed by the pandemic. Trump expanded the investigations immediately after taking office in January 2025.
Somalis in Minnesota have been implicated in the theft of billions of dollars in state and federal funds intended to support childcare, food programs for families and seniors, and healthcare and mental health programs. Losses are estimated to range between $1 billion and $9 billion.
Of 98 people charged in connection with fraud involving one program, food for the poor in Minnesota, 85 were identified as Somali Americans.
Allegations of fraud also include state and federal money used for personal reasons, such as the purchase of vehicles, vacations, clothes and personal expenses, rather than to provide childcare or food services for seniors.
Other accusations focus on fraud by some Somali-run childcare centers that had no children, or far fewer children than what was claimed in government funding applications.
