18-month stretch of no U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan includes time under Biden

A social media post echoed a misleading claim former President Donald Trump made before about no U.S. service member deaths in Afghanistan over an 18-month period.

A July 2 Instagram post by conservative activist Brigitte Gabriel said, "For 18 months under President Trump, not a single American was harmed in Afghanistan."

The Instagram post included a video clip from "The Sage Steele Podcast," in which U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, told a story about Trump negotiating with Taliban leaders over a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Hunt said Trump threatened a Taliban leader, saying that if he harmed any American, he would kill him, then said, "Do you know for 18 months, not a single American was killed in Afghanistan?"

Hunt was correct in stating that after Trump and the Taliban reached a deal Feb. 29, 2020, to end the Afghanistan war, no U.S. service members were killed there for 18 months. 

Gabriel, however, added the words, "under President Trump" and the words "not a single American was harmed" in her caption. Neither statement is accurate. Seven of the months during the stretch were during Joe Biden’s presidency. Also,  Defense Department data shows that four service members died in what it categorized as "non-hostile deaths," meaning not in combat, and three service members were wounded in combat from March 1, 2020, until Trump left office Jan. 20, 2021. 

Instagram screenshot

We contacted Gabriel through her organization Act for America, a group  describing itself as a "grassroots movement dedicated to preserving America’s culture, sovereignty & security." We received no response.

The last military service members killed in combat in Afghanistan during Trump’s presidency came Feb. 9, 2020, when two service members died in Nangarhar Province. 

After that, no U.S. service members were killed in action in Afghanistan until Aug. 26, 2021, when suicide bombers attacked Kabul’s airport, killing 13 U.S. service members during the U.S. evacuation President Joe Biden oversaw.

So, it’s correct that in an 18-month stretch, no U.S. service members were harmed or died in combat. But Gabriel is incorrect to say Trump was in charge during that period.

Biden took office Jan. 20, 2021, and there were no U.S. service members killed until the Kabul airport attack in late August that year. That accounts for seven months of the 18-month stretch the Instagram post mentioned.

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on September 23, 2024 in a Threads post

Says John Fetterman said he’s “voting for Trump.”

Also, the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System data shows that four service members died in what it categorized as "non-hostile deaths," meaning not in combat, and three service members were wounded in combat from March 1, 2020, until Trump left office Jan. 20, 2021. It’s unclear from this data and our search of news reports whether any U.S. civilians or contractors were killed during this period.

The Defense Department database gives no specifics about nonhostile deaths. At least two of those four service members died in vehicle accidents, one in July 2020 and one in November 2020. Two others died in what Defense Department news releases called "non-combat-related" incidents.

Before Trump’s deal with the Taliban, 45 U.S. service members were killed in combat during his presidency, from Jan. 20, 2017, until Feb. 29, 2020. During Biden’s presidency, there were the 13 service members killed in the 2021 Kabul attack and two nonhostile troop deaths in 2024, Defense Department data shows.

Gabriel said, "For 18 months under President Trump, not a single American was harmed in Afghanistan."

There is no 18-month stretch solely under the Trump administration in which no U.S. service members were killed. There was an 18-month span when no U.S. service member was killed, but Biden oversaw seven of those months. Also, some service members were wounded or died in noncombat deaths during Trump’s final 11 months in office. We rate the claim False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.