An Afghan defense ministry official, who was not identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the shooter was an Afghan soldier who had argued with the U.S. forces before opening fire.
In a statement, the U.S. military said “an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined U.S. and Afghan force with a machine gun. We are still collecting information, and the cause or motive behind the attack is unknown at this time.”Omer, the provincial council member, is from Nangarhar province’s Sherzad district, where he said the incident took place.
The U.S. military said American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Nangarhar province. Last July, two U.S. service members were killed by an Afghan soldier in the southern Kandahar province. The shooter was wounded and arrested. In September, three U.S. military personnel were wounded when a member of the Afghan National Civil Order Police fired on a military convoy, also in Kandahar.Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been meeting with Taliban representatives in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar in recent weeks.
In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Trump referenced the peace talks, saying U.S. soldiers were not meant to serve as “law enforcement agencies” for other nations. “In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our war fighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are now underway,” he said.Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning.
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