The latest in a growing number of insider attacks at checkpoints, an Afghan police officer shot and killed at least four of his colleagues at a checkpoint in Uruzgan Province overnight, with 11 other police still missing and unaccounted for.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and indeed many of the recent attacks did involve a Taliban infiltrator, though they have also claimed credit at times for incidents that turned out to be totally unrelated to the insurgency.
Provincial police officials say it is still “unclear” what happened at the site, and gave no indication that they have any idea where the 11 missing police ate. The Taliban has been carrying out an offensive in Uruzgan for months, and the military recently ceded territory to them elsewhere.
Remote checkpoints on Afghan highways have been heavily targeted by the Taliban, both from within and without, which has led NATO to call on the Afghan government to focus less on defending such sites. Abandoning the checkpoints, however, would give the Taliban even more freedom of movement and control over the highway system.