In Afghan ‘mess-up’, both sides mistook the other for the enemy

When gunfire woke Mohammad Shafik at 1 am, he was sure the attackers were Taliban or al-Qaeda...

When gunfire woke Mohammad Shafik at 1 am, he was sure the attackers were Taliban or al-Qaeda, out to punish his family for its ties with the Afghan government.

Huddled with relatives in their mud-brick compound in eastern Khost province, he heard a man with an accent from Kandahar — the Taliban’s former stronghold — order them to step into the winter night.

Shafik’s father, Mohammad Jan grabbed a gun. “I told my father, ‘Don’t go out, it’s al-Qaeda,”’ Shafik, 23, said. “When he opened the door the shooting started. I could hear in my father’s voice that he was injured.”

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Shafik’s 13-year-old sister, Khadijah, rushed to her father’s aid, but then an explosion blasted open the door, fatally wounding her. The father lay bleeding for hours, was eventually evacuated but later died.

The family learned too late that the assailants weren’t militants , but the US military.

By the time the December 12 raid on Darnami village was over, five civilians lay dead, including two men killed while running to repel what they thought was a Taliban attack. Each side had mistaken the other for the enemy, and another setback had been dealt to efforts win public confidence.

–JASON STRAZIUSO

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