US and Afghan troops killed in incident in Nangarhjar Province in Afghanistan

(February 8) News about an incident in Nangarhar province in Aghanistan involving US and Afghan forces and perhaps the Taliban or ISIS is unclear with conflicting reports on what happened.

Varying reports

The New York Times described the event as a deadly shootout between Afghan and US soldiers while engaged in a joint exercise. The Times quoted two Afghan officials reported that five or six US soldiers were killed and six Afghan troops as well. A US military official was quoted as saying the at least 6 Americans were killed but did not say how many on the other side were killed.

Another report by Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesperson for US forces in Afghanistan, said that a combined US and Afghan force in Nangarhar was engaged by direct fire. This implies that an enemy force either Taliban or ISIS were involved. Leggett said: "We are assessing the situation and will provide further updates as they become available." However, Mubartz Khadem, a senior security official in the province said that the clashes took place between US and Afghan forces and that he feared there were casualties. This could then be an insider or "green on blue" attack that have occurred a number of times before during the Afghan conflict.

A senior Afghan defense official told news media that it was not clear whether the clash was a result of clashes between Afghan and foreign soldiers or whether it was by Islamist militants. The official said: "We are not ruling any possibility out but we are not calling it an insider attack, Taliban attack, or 'green-on-blue' at this stage."

A provincial council member in Nangarhar, Sohra Qaderi said the clashes were between the Afghan army and foreign forces in the Shirzad district of the province on Saturday afternoon. Qaderi was unsure what had happened but said it seemed the clashes happened during a raid or there could have been a tactical mistake.

Taliban sources were not immediately available to comment. The Taliban now control more territory than at any point since they were ousted in 2001.

Peace talks have yet to be successful

There are about 14,000 US troops still in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan troops but also to carry out counter-terrorism operations. US negotiators have been for months attempting to arrange for withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for security guarantees. However, conflict continues. The US would like to see the Taliban reduce violence during talks. However, neither side has stopped attacks.

Previously published in the Digital Journal