U.S. and NATO officials are vowing to stay the course in Afghanistan after Taliban militants shot down a U.S. military helicopter west of Kabul Saturday, killing 38 people including 30 U.S. troops. For U.S. forces, it was the bloodiest single incident of the 10-year-old Afghanistan war. Twenty-two of the dead were members of the elite Navy SEALs, including many who were members of SEAL Team 6, the unit that conducted the Osama bin Laden raid. U.S. officials said the helicopter carrying the Navy SEALs were on a mission to target a high-level Taliban commander. But Afghan officials say the Taliban may have lured U.S. forces to the scene by tipping them off that a Taliban meeting was taking place. Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen is a NATO spokesperson.

Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen, NATO Senior Spokesman: “The incident, as tragic as it was in its magnitude, will have no influence on the conduct of operations. It was a tragic day. It was a tragic loss. We suffer wounded and death every day. The campaign is going to continue. We will continue to relentlessly pursue the enemy in the fight that we are taking to them.”

Meanwhile, four other NATO soldiers were killed in separate militant attacks on Sunday.