Afghanistan recently saw a surge of violence resulting in the death of 17 Afghan civilians and two American soldiers. The Taliban controls the majority of Musa Qala, a district with 100 villages inside, and enforces strict rules based on the Islamic law, as they have since the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Neyamatullah Khan, a local government official, announced that Taliban leaders beheaded 17 civilians in the Helmand province of Musa Qala who were apparently partying and dancing to music. The 17 victims consisted of 15 men and two women (Vogt).
Another government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi reported that two Taliban commanders were fighting over the women dancing, and a shooting eventually broke out. He did not say whether the music and dancing prompted the shooting. All 17 of the victims were beheaded, although it is not yet known whether they were shot prior to the beheading (Vogt). .
An Afghan colleague fighting along NATO soldiers turned his weapon onto his colleagues and shot and killed two American soldiers. Although Afghan officials claim that the shooting was accidental, NATO has not released a statement as to whether they believe the shootings were intentional or accidental. The US Defense Department claims that the Afghan soldier fired a rocket-propelled grenade intentionally. The total number of Afghan killings in the month of August is now at 12 (Vogt).
A spokesman for the Afghan army corps, Noman Hatefi, relayed the story of the "friendly-fire" that killed two American soldiers. According to the Afghan army, US and Afghan soldiers were fired upon and as they moved to take positions, an Afghan soldier fell and discharged his weapon. "He didn't do this intentionally. But then the commander of the Afghan unit started shouting at him: 'What did you do? You killed two NATO soliders!' And so he threw down his weapon and started to run," retold Hatefi. US troops called in air support, and they immediately shot down the fleeing soldier (Vogt).
