GHAZNI: The Taliban have killed nine Afghan soldiers in an insider attack in central Afghanistan, the military said on Saturday, underscoring the dangers Afghan forces face from within their own ranks.

The Afghan National Army troops “were martyred by Taliban” in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province on Friday night, the Afghan defence ministry said on Twitter.

Defence ministry spokesman Fawad Aman later said the troops had been killed by Taliban infiltrators.

Such attacks, sometimes referred to as “green on green”, are a constant threat in the war-torn country for international and Afghan forces alike.

Aman denied a report from a member of Ghazni’s provincial council that 23 Afghan security forces had been killed.

The Taliban, meanwhile, claimed they had overrun an “enemy base” in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province and killed dozens of security forces.

According to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, over 24 troops were killed in the attack. Insider attacks have been steady throughout the 18-year conflict in Afghanistan, with US and Nato troops most often targeted. On July 29, an Afghan soldier killed two US troops as they were visiting an Afghan army base in Kandahar.

That came two weeks after another Afghan soldier shot and killed an influential Afghan army colonel while he was conducting a security assessment in Ghazni province.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2019