The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan after President Trump scrapped high-level peace talks between Afghan and Taliban leaders at Camp David earlier this month.
This week alone, three major suicide bombings killed dozens of people, including 26 at a campaign rally for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban claimed responsibility for all of them.
Seventeen U.S. troops have been killed in combat in Afghanistan this year and more than 100 have been wounded — some of them severely. One of them — a special operations soldier — lost his right arm and leg last month after a grenade exploded during close-quarters combat.
Three military aircraft, 18 medical personnel, 24,000 gallons of fuel and 26 gallons of blood were spent to save the life of this critically wounded soldier, whom Fox News agreed not to identify at the request of the U.S. military.
Officials credit a recent decision to have all assault forces carry units of blood on the battlefield, as well as the lifesaving surgery the soldier received at Bagram Airbase.
More than 100 troops stood in line outside the base hospital to donate blood to help their wounded brother-in-arms. Then the Air Force sprang into action to bring him home.
A C-17 flight crew based at Dover Air Force Base flew from Germany to Afghanistan on short notice, then made the 8,000-mile non-stop journey home to Texas. – READ MORE