Afghan Army Commander Killed in Insider Attack in Central Afghanistan

Taliban claims attack, says US soldiers were also killed

Update: We previously reported that Gen. Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan, was said to be present at the incident detailed below. Col. Sonny Leggett from US Army Public Affairs contacted Antiwar.com and reported that Gen. Miller “was not in Ghazni at the time of this incident.”

Details have emerged on an insider attack on Wednesday in Afghanistan, when an Afghan soldier shot and killed the commander of the Afghan Army’s 3rd division, Col. Mateen Mujtaba, in the Ghazni Province.

Afghan officials reported this was an insider attack, saying the soldier who killed the colonel was a Taliban insider, and was killed himself when other troops returned fire during his shooting. They claimed only the colonel was killed.

The Taliban confirmed that the attacker was theirs, but also claimed that US soldiers were killed in the insider attack. US officials have not reported any such casualties, nor did Afghan officials mention US troops being present, only calling them “near” the attack.

A Ghazni MP said the colonel had met with US advisors just before the attack, and he claimed that the US troops shot and killed the Taliban infiltrator, though again this was not confirmed.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.