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Two American troops were killed and six others wounded when an Afghan soldier armed with a machine gun opened fire, the US military confirmed Sunday.<\/p>\n
The deaths come at a sensitive time in the 18-year-old war, with President Donald Trump eager to bring troops home and end the longest conflict in US history.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred late Saturday in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan when US and Afghan commandos were conducting a “key-leader engagement” at a base in Sherzad district.<\/p>\n
“Current reports indicate an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined US and Afghan force with a machine gun,” US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Sonny Leggett said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Provincial governor Shah Mahmood Meyakhil said in an audio message to reporters that three Afghan commandos were wounded.<\/p>\n
He said it was not immediately clear if the incident was a deliberate act by an “infiltrator” or an accident.<\/p>\n
“It was not a clash between the forces. We are investigating,” Meyakhil said.<\/p>\n
Leggett also stressed the cause or motive behind the attack were not immediately known.<\/p>\n
In a tweet, the US Army’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) said “several” of its soldiers had been killed or injured during combat operations in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.<\/p>\n
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later declined to comment on the incident, saying in a message sent to AFP only that the insurgents were “investigating” the attack.<\/p>\n
Last year was the deadliest for US forces in Afghanistan since combat operations officially finished at the end of 2014, highlighting the challenging security situation that persists.<\/p>\n
Depending on how one qualifies combat deaths, about 20 American troops were killed in 2019. Since the US-led invasion in October 2001, about 2,400 US troops have been killed in combat in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In December, Taliban infiltrators in the Afghan military killed nine Afghan soldiers in central Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In July, an Afghan soldier killed two US troops as they were visiting an Afghan army base in Kandahar. Such insider attacks are sometimes called “green-on-blue” incidents.<\/p>\n
That came two weeks after another Afghan soldier shot and killed an influential Afghan army colonel while he was conducting a security assessment in Ghazni province.<\/p>\n
US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been negotiating with the Taliban for about 18 months for a deal that would see the Pentagon pull thousands of troops from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In return, the Taliban would guarantee the country is not used as a jihadist safe haven.<\/p>\n
Many are sceptical of the proposed deal and Trump himself declared talks “dead” in September amid continued Taliban violence.<\/p>\n
Negotiations have since resumed in Qatar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n