For the first time in more than seven years, there were zero combat casualties among U.S. military forces in Afghanistan during a full calendar month, according to NATO press releases.
March marked just the third time since the conflict in Afghanistan began more than 12 years ago that no U.S. service members died in combat.
The two previous times the U.S. military went an entire month without any service member deaths in any theater of "Operation Enduring Freedom" — the U.S. war in Afghanistan — were in July 2002 and January 2007, according to data on the website iCasualties.org, which tracks deaths and injuries among coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Two coalition soldiers died in Afghanistan over the course of March 2014, but both were considered non-combat casualties.
President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to plan for an “orderly withdrawal” of American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
