Security forces stand guard after a Taliban-claimed suicide car bombing in Kabul. Photo: Sayed Khodaberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A Taliban suicide car bombing in Kabul on Thursday killed an American soldier, reports AP. The incident marks the 16th U.S. service member death in Afghanistan in 2019.
The big picture: It's the second attack by the group this week, despite ongoing Taliban-U.S. peace talks in Qatar. The bomb exploded in a diplomatic area of the capital near the U.S. Embassy and other foreign buildings and also killed a Romanian soldier and at least 10 Afghan civilians. Afghan government officials, who have been excluded from the peace talks, have warned the U.S. that pulling out of the country too quickly could push it toward civil war.
Go deeper: Afghanistan peace talks: U.S. pushes toward "face-saving way out"