Word out of Washington D.C. this past weekend was that President Trump was entertaining the idea of hosting peace talks at Camp David with the Taliban that would also include President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, whose country they have ravaged for the past 18 years.

The idea of bringing known terrorists to Camp David on the eve of the September 11, 2001 attacks that triggered the bloody Afghan war seemed unfathomable to many. The presidential retreat is where President Jimmy Carter forged a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt and where the sitting President has hosted kings and prime ministers. The plan for these peace talks, as we would later learn from the Commander-in-Chief himself, unraveled when the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack that killed one American soldier and 11 others.

The attack is yet another painful reminder of the war that began 18 years ago this week. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan through mid-2019, nearly 2,400 American service members have died. Additionally, more than 20,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department. It is a staggering number, that has numbed our emotions to the point where war casualties seem to get little attention on the evening newscasts. It has sadly become old news.

We cannot forgot those who sacrificed their lives for this cause, nor those who perished on September 11, 2001, when when the planes struck the twin towers and changed our lives forever. We remember our friends and neighbors who lost their lives on the fateful day abd all of those first responders who suffered from 9-11 related illnesses in the months and years that followed.

We pray that they did not die in vain.