Peace? Not Quite – Taliban Kill Four US Soldiers
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Stocktrek Images/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Four U.S. soldiers were killed overnight in what a U.S. official called an “indirect fire” attack at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that insurgents fired two mortars into Bagram. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured.
The attack came just hours after Taliban officials said they were prepared to sit down for direct peace talks with Afghan and U.S. officials over the future of Afghanistan, and Afghan security forces officially took the security lead from the U.S.-led NATO coalition.
“We can confirm four International Security Assistance Force service members died following an indirect fire attack in eastern Afghanistan today,” NATO confirmed in a short statement.
“It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities,” the release said.
Just hours after the Taliban opened a new office in Qatar, supposedly to help kickstart the peace process, Afghan President Hamid Karzai abruptly called off all negotiations with the United States — and with the Taliban — on any long term peace deals.
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