Taliban Car Bomb Targeting Elite Afghan Force Kills at Least 12<br />members had stopped for shopping; they already finished their shopping." He added, "I saw the vegetables and fruits in their cars when I got there." The K.P.F., trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, carries out night raids and targeted operations in areas along the Pakistani border<br />that fall under the influence of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s deputy supreme leader and chief of the ruthless Haqqani Network.<br />Gen. Faizullah Ghairat, the police chief of Khost Province, which borders Pakistan, said<br />that members of the Khost Protection Force, a militia trained and paid for by the United States, were returning from a mission and had stopped at a crowded bazaar when a car bomb exploded.<br />The force has been repeatedly accused of abuses and civilian casualties, and despite reports<br />that it was put under the control of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, Afghan officials said the militia still reported to the United States.<br />In a statement to the news media, the group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said<br />that the attack had been planned for months and that it had targeted "the strike force that is trained by the American C.I.A." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.<br />By MUJIB MASHAL and JAWAD SUKHANYARMAY 27, 2017<br />KABUL, Afghanistan — A large Taliban explosion targeting an elite Afghan militia force that has worked closely with the C.I.A.
