Taliban Try to Kill U.S. Commander Days After Lauding Talks with U.S. Envoy By Bridget Johnson
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/taliban-try-to-kill-u-s-commander-days-after-lauding-talks-with-u-s-envoy/
The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan escaped unhurt today after a gunman opened fire on officials leaving a high-profile meeting that included Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller.
The Taliban claimed on their website that “amid the series of ongoing Al Khandaq crushing operations, mujahideen carried out” the attack. Al Khandaq is the name of the Taliban’s spring offensive launched in April.
“At Kandahar palace today: Afghan-on-Afghan incident, as initial reports indicate. 3 Americans wounded. Gen. Miller uninjured, attacker reportedly dead,” tweeted the official account of Resolute Support, the NATO mission in the country.
According to Afghanistan’s TOLO News, “The incident happened when officials were leaving the governor’s office and while on their way to a helipad.”
“Sources also say the attack was initiated by at least one of the governor’s bodyguards,” TOLO added.
Kandahar’s anti-Taliban police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq, 39, was killed; TOLO described him as “a fierce patriot … committed to stamping out terrorism.” His father and uncle were killed by the Taliban in 1994; he became the provincial police chief in 2011, after his predecessor was murdered in a suicide bombing.
Raziq had, by his estimation last year, survived about 29 assassination attempts. CONTINUE AT SITE
The Taliban said in their report that “main targets of the attack were American commander Miller and infamous commander general Abdul Raziq the police chief of the said province.”
Miller assumed command of Resolute Support on Sept. 2.
“We are being told the area is secure. Initial reports also say the attacker is dead,” Col. Knut Peters, a Resolute Support spokesman, said in a statement.
The attack comes just days after the Taliban and the Afghan government said U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban officials in Qatar to discuss a peace deal with the terror group.
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