Two U.S. service members died during combat operations in Afghanistan early Friday – the third and fourth American casualties in 2019 in a war that is approaching 18 years old.

The U.S. military headquarters in Kabul announced the deaths in a short statement, withholding any details of the service members' identities pending notification to their next of kin, per Defense Department policy.

The deaths occurred as the U.S. grapples with how to extricate itself from its longest war. Fraught negotiations continue between the U.S. and Taliban delegates, and some 14,000 U.S. troops remain in the country.

Despite almost two decades of U.S. led war the situation in Afghanistan remains deeply unstable. More than half of Afghanistan's population lives in areas that are either under Taliban control or contested by the extremist network, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Long War Journal. The BBC reports more Afghan civilians died last year – more than 3,800 – than any other time since records began being kept in 2009.

Army Sgt. Cameron Meddock, a member of the elite Ranger regiment, died on Jan. 17 in Germany from wounds he sustained during combat. Five days later, Staff Sgt. Joshua Beale, a Special Forces soldier, also died from small arms fire wounds.

