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General John Nicholson, the Commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan and NATO's Resolute Support Mission, speaks during an opening ceremony of the "Invictus Games" at the Resolute Support Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 13. Massoud Hossaini / AP file

But while there are fewer U.S. service members in Iraq and Syria than in Afghanistan, the ground commander in Baghdad continues to send out a notification when an incident results in a U.S. death.

And one senior defense official warned that Nicholson's new policy will mean less transparency and more ambiguity about the war in Afghanistan at a time when many Americans don't know what is happening there. "It's a step in the wrong direction," the official said.

The official explained that putting out information about the operational event has nothing to do with identifying the individual casualties. In fact, reporting the incident as it occurs goes back to Vietnam, the official said, citing news reports about helicopter crashes and intense firefights before next of kin were notified. Military historian William Hammond, author of the book

The Pentagon also used to identify a casualty immediately after the individual's next of kin was notified, the official said, until the 24-hour-notification requirement was introduced in 2009.

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Another senior defense official expressed concern about the new policy because it may mean that Afghans become the initial source of information about American casualties. "It's just not appropriate and it's not the way we have been doing things for more than a decade," the official said.

Ultimately, Gen. Nicholson has final say over what information is released and when, both Pentagon and U.S. military officials said. As long as he is commander, the first acknowledgment of the death of an American in Afghanistan will include a note than next of kin have been notified.

Read more from the original source:
US Is Now Waiting Days to Announce Deaths In Afghanistan - NBCNews.com