Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Afghan War:NATO Service Member Killed in Herat

A non-US NATO service member has been killed in Herat Province,Western Afghanistan on 22 October 2018.The person was serving in the Resolute Support Mission's Train,Advise and Assist Command-West (TAAC-West).Two other troops were wounded.No nationalities or identities were available.TAAC-West is led by Italian personnel.Also serving in TAAC-West are troops from Albania,Lithuania,Slovenia,Ukraine and the US.TAAC-West is helping the Afghan National Army's 207th Corps and the 606th Afghan National Police Zone.*
The incident was reportedly a green on blue attack,or someone disguised as an Afghan National Defence and Security Forces member attacking a Coalition service member.A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack,saying one of their "infiltrators" was the assailant.The flare-up was the second green on blue attack in less than a week.On 18 October,the Taliban militants claimed responsibility for an attack following a security review session in Kandahar Province,Southern Afghanistan,in which two Afghan leaders were killed and two Americans were wounded.The Afghans lost were the highly admired Kandahar Province police chief GEN Abdul Raziq,and a senior Afghan intelligence officer.Those wounded in the firefight included a US general officer,BGEN Jeffrey D. Smiley,US Army,commander of TAAC-South,and a US contractor.The Taliban Islamist extremists said they had hoped to kill the new commander of US Forces Afghanistan and NATO's Resolute Support Mission,GEN Austin Scott Miller,US Army,who took command on 2 September 2018,but he escaped unscathed.
GEN Miller has a Special Operations Forces background,having recently served as commander,Joint Special Operations Command.He is a veteran of the Battle of Mogadishu,Somalia;the Iraq War;and the Afghan War.Among his decorations are the Bronze Star Medal,the Purple Heart Medal and the Legion of Merit.

No comments: