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AN AFGHAN COMMANDO has killed two American soldiers and wounded two others during a joint operation in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said, in the latest so-called insider attack on international forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the volatile district of Achin, a stronghold of Islamic State jihadists, saying it was carried out by an infiltrator.
“Today around noon an Afghan commando opened fire on US troops in Achin district, killing two American soldiers,” provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.
“The (Afghan) soldier was also killed in the return fire.”
NATO forces in Kabul declined to immediately comment on the killings, saying only that they were aware of an incident in eastern Afghanistan.
“We will release more information when appropriate,” a spokesman for the US-led military coalition said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that four US soldiers were killed in the attack. The insurgents are known to exaggerate battlefield claims.
In mid-April, the US military dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat, hitting IS positions in Nangarhar. The deployment of the so-called Mother Of All Bombs killed dozens of jihadists but fighting in the area has continued.
American troops have partnered with Afghan soldiers in raids against IS Khorasan, claiming the local offshoot of the jihadist group based in Iraq and Syria is steadily losing ground in Afghanistan.
So-called “green-on-blue” attacks — when Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on international troops — have been a major problem during NATO’s long years fighting alongside Afghan forces.
Western officials say most such attacks stem from personal grudges and cultural misunderstandings rather than insurgent plots.
The killings have bred fierce mistrust between local and foreign forces even as the rate of such incidents has dropped in recent years. NATO troops have adopted special security measures to try to counter the threat.
Three American troops were wounded in March when an Afghan soldier opened fire in southern Helmand province, in the first known insider attack on international forces this year.
Similar attacks have also plagued Afghan troops, depleting morale and causing mistrust within security ranks.
The Afghan conflict is the longest in American history. US-led NATO troops have been at war there since 2001, after the ousting of the Taliban regime for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who mainly serve in a training and advisory capacity.
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Ok.. List of “people” that should be ignored on this site: Tariq, Tony Daly, Francis, The Girl.. I’ll update the list if needed
Your the thickest person on here
@Flip off: Flip off will you
@Shane Moynihan: And btw it’s “You’re”. I learnt that when I was 5
Coward indeed. Were these killers vetted before becoming soldiers? Whenever the US soldiers accompany Afghanistan soldiers, the US soldiers should walk in back behind Afghanistan soldiers not in front. Never trust Muslim soldiers!
@Thosj Carroll: was only reading yesterday about two journalists that were with Afghan soldiers and were targeted after their presence was leaked Not A Random Attack: New Details Emerge From Investigation Of Slain NPR Journalists http://n.pr/2rKI81t
@Thosj Carroll: Of course if the US soldiers walked right home they would still be alive today. As long as any occupying force stays in Afghanistan they will be attacked and killed.
The sad part of this story is tens of thousands of Afghans are dying each year are nobody cares.
Its not a battle of ideas, its a battle of US imperialism long reach into the middle east and attempting to exert control over the area. The yanks armed & trained the taliban in the 80′s against the soviets and now they enslaved a whole country on the basis that it was harbouring osama who was from saudi after 9/11.
Afghanistan is a extremely strategic local in the middle east and has been highly sought after by the brits in the 19th century, russia after that and now the US. It geopolitics at it worst dont be fooled by this false narrative about war on terrorism.
@Frank McGonigal: very selective use of facts there good job
@johnp: everything he said is true
@Richard Sweeney: the us didn’t arm the taliban, the taliban didn’t emerge until 1994 and even then numbered in the hundreds
@johnp: please give your counter arguement if you disagree with my opinion or believe im being selective with the facts to suit my position
@Frank McGonigal: the us stopped arming mujaheddin in 1989 the taliban didn’t emerge until 1994, should they have let bin laden live a nice happy life in Kandahar after he killed 3000
us citizens and Kabul refused to hand him over
@johnp: Pedantic. They’re the same bunch at the end of the day.
@Alan: tell that to the northern alliance who they fought for years the taliban are a Saudi backed Pakistani creation
@johnp: yes john, thats like saying the provisional ira are distinctly different to the real ira, the taliban are natural evolvement of the mujihadeen & the training and the arms provided by the yanks was utilised for their future missions of terror.
Your 2nd point about should they have left bin ladan alone cause kabul wont hand him over! Well you either believe in due process or you dont, you cant sideline due process and the right to a fair trial and judicial process because its a 3rd world country. By your logic, argentina should have been invaded and made a sateille state of the us for hiding Nazis after ww2. By sideling our belief in democracy & due process we have accepted the illegal detention & torture of persons in gantanemo bay plucked from the middle east for yrs without any rights whatsoever.
I dont accept any dilution of people’s right because they live in a poorer place in the world. I deplore terrorism and the abuse of islam to spread hatred but resorting to abuse of human rights in the name of wat of terror makes us as bad as them!!!.
@Frank McGonigal: The yanks armed the Mujahadeen who drew the USSR into a protracted war and brought about it’s demise , freeing large parts of central Europe from oppression (a positive I would say) .
The yanks asked the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden , they refused , as they would not understand due process the same way you espouse . just ask the men and women they shot in the head for being gay or adulterous .
Do you think Afghans have more human rights now or back when the Taliban were in power ?
@Richard Sweeney: Yawn
Who would have thought there could be so many cowards from Afghanistan
AH JAYSUS
War.
Tony Daly. Of their own making.
@Tony Daly: What is it good for?
@Matty Killucan: Absolutely nothing ,
If you have Nukes and can’t use them .
@Ken Hayden: This is a war of ideas. You can’t bomb ideas, good or bad ones.
@Matty Killucan: Bad ideas can’t be bombed , that’s true , but the brains in which they rattle around can .
@Ken Hayden: That’s true but maybe something a tad more discriminate than a nuke would be a prudent move. No need to vaporise innocent people to get at the bad guys (and the guys who are only pretending to be bad guys, so the actual bad guys don’t cut their heads off)
@Matty Killucan: Aawww !
@Ken Hayden: good if ya make nukes and can sell them though..
@Daffy the Bear: That would be the Pakistani’s ?
have your say