A Shortage of Coffins’ After Taliban Slaughter Unarmed Soldiers -
By MUJIB MASHAL and NAJIM RAHIMAPRIL 22, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan — They looked like Afghan Army soldiers returning from the
front lines, carrying the bodies of wounded comrades as part of the ruse.
In a new sign of how badly the Afghan military is faltering, the commander of the NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen.
John W. Nicholson, has requested a few thousand additional American soldiers to assist in training Afghan recruits..
“The enemy has the strength — they have more people in their units now —
and the speed of action,” said Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of the Afghan intelligence service.
“The two explosions alone, God forgive me if I am wrong, probably killed 80 people.”
As Mr. Ghani met with his security officials at the army base, dozens of relatives of soldiers waited outside to receive news, or the coffins.
For the next five hours, the militants went on a rampage, killing at least 140 soldiers
and officers in what is emerging as the single deadliest known attack on an Afghan military base in the country’s 16-year war.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the assailants had been led by four soldiers in
the base, home to the 209th Army Corps, who had long been working as militant infiltrators.
“The army corps was not allowing anyone in — not even 100 meters close to the base,” Mr. Khan said.