The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has quietly instituted a policy under which the reporting of most American combat deaths in that country will be delayed until after the families of the fallen have been officially notified, a U.S. military spokesman confirmed Friday.

Until now, whenever a U.S. service member was killed in action, the death was sent out as a press release right away, with the name and other identifying information withheld, until 24 hours after the next-of-kin notification process was completed.