Taliban Car Bomb Targeting Elite Afghan Force Kills at Least 12
members had stopped for shopping; they already finished their shopping." He added, "I saw the vegetables and fruits in their cars when I got there." The K.P.F., trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, carries out night raids and targeted operations in areas along the Pakistani border
that fall under the influence of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s deputy supreme leader and chief of the ruthless Haqqani Network.
Gen. Faizullah Ghairat, the police chief of Khost Province, which borders Pakistan, said
that members of the Khost Protection Force, a militia trained and paid for by the United States, were returning from a mission and had stopped at a crowded bazaar when a car bomb exploded.
The force has been repeatedly accused of abuses and civilian casualties, and despite reports
that it was put under the control of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, Afghan officials said the militia still reported to the United States.
In a statement to the news media, the group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said
that the attack had been planned for months and that it had targeted "the strike force that is trained by the American C.I.A." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.
By MUJIB MASHAL and JAWAD SUKHANYARMAY 27, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan — A large Taliban explosion targeting an elite Afghan militia force that has worked closely with the C.I.A.