An Afghan commando opened fire on U.S. troops, wounding four American soldiers at an army base in northern Afghanistan, military officials said Saturday. The shooter was reportedly killed during the encounter, according to Afghan officials. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at Camp Shaheen that also wounded an Afghan soldier, saying they had recruited the member of Afghan’s elite special forces to fight for the Taliban-led insurgency. The Taliban initially claimed that multiple American soldiers had been killed in the attack, but that appears to be false. U.S. officials say there were no American fatalities.
The attack appeared to be a warning shot of sorts to the Pentagon by Taliban forces ahead of what looks likely to be an increase in U.S. troops deployed in the country. “This attack occurs at a time when the Americans want to send more troops to Afghanistan and further test the nation’s intention to carry on the fight,” the Taliban said in a statement.
This is the second deadly attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in the last week to come from within the Afghan military. Another Afghan commando shot and killed three American soldiers in the eastern part of the country where U.S. forces are stationed to assist the Afghan government combat the growing ISIS threat there. “Special forces soldiers in the Afghan Army, generally referred to as commandos, are much more highly trained than regular troops and work in proximity to American soldiers, including serving as partners in ground combat operations, as well as in training exercises,” according to the New York Times. “So far this year, six American soldiers have been killed in combat in Afghanistan, all of them involved in the fight against the Islamic State in Nangarhar Province. Five of the six apparently were killed by their own side: the three on June 10 and two others in April who apparently were killed accidentally in an airstrike in the same area.”
The insider attacks are part of a larger spike in violence in the country, as Afghan forces struggle to remain in control of large swaths of the country. The number of American forces on the ground providing assistance has slowly crept up as the violence has worsened and ISIS-affiliated attacks continue to rise. In April, a devastating attack on Camp Shaheen—the same base targeted in the most recent insider attack—killed at least 170 people and led to a shakeup of the Afghan Army brass.
