Taliban kill 27 in Helmand attack

Taliban fighters beheaded 17 civilians and killed 10 Afghan soldiers in separate attacks in southern Helmand province, officials said, as Afghanistan's forces struggled to assert control over areas where the U.S. is withdrawing surge troops. In a separate incident, two U.S. troops were killed in eastern Laghman province on Monday when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them, according to a provincial government spokesman. Local officials gave conflicting accounts of the beheadings, some saying that the villagers were killed because they were suspected of spying on the insurgents, and others asserting that the executions were punishment for attending a mixed-gender party in Kajaki district, a Taliban-stronghold. The 17 Afghans beheaded overnight Sunday included two women. "All the people killed are civilians," said Farid Ahmadi Farhang, Helmand's provincial police chief. "A couple of days before some very important Taliban commanders were killed in [a coalition] airstrike, making the Taliban very angry. The Taliban killed those people they accused of spying on their slain commanders." The Taliban practice a strict form of Islam, barring men and women from mixing unless they are related and largely outlawing music. Still, capital punishment for a mixed wedding would be unusual for the Taliban. The Taliban spokesman for southern Afghanistan, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, said he wasn't aware of the incident in Kajaki. Mr. Ahmadi did, however, claim responsibility for Monday's deaths of 10 Afghan soldiers killed while manning a checkpoint in Helmand's Washer district, home of the huge Camp Leatherneck base housing the coalition's regional military command. Helmand was the focus of President Barack Obama's troop surge in 2010, with the U.S. Marines pouring into the province to assist embattled British forces. The 33,000 surge troops are scheduled to all return home by September, with some of the biggest withdrawals coming from Helmand, the rural province where much of Afghanistan's opium is grown. The U.S.-led military says the Afghan forces would be able to fill in the void left by the Marines' departure. The latest incident, however, raises questions about the Afghan forces' readiness. Five soldiers at the Washer checkpoint deserted their posts, leaving their comrades to try repelling the Taliban onslaught alone, according to Afghan officials. Helmand's provincial government said these deserters are now under investigation. U.S. forces in Helmand weren't asked to help rescue the Afghan troops at the checkpoint during the attack, Afghan officials said. Coalition officials say that 80% of current violence in Afghanistan is being perpetrated against 15% of the population—and that attacks in remote parts of Helmand, such as Kajaki, aren't necessarily a sign of the Taliban's strength. "Our combined strategy emphasizes protecting population centers. This has forced the enemy out into the countryside," said U.S. Army Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman. "It will take a while for the Afghan government to extend its influence further out." The Taliban portrayed the attack on the Washer checkpoint as proof that the Afghan forces won't be able to hold their ground once the U.S. is no longer there to help. Further undermining the cooperation between U.S. and Afghan forces is the spate of so-called green on blue shootings of coalition troops by Afghan soldiers and policemen. The killing of two U.S. troops on Monday in Laghman province brings to about a dozen the number of coalition troops killed by Afghan service members this month. The Afghan soldier was killed by return fire, provincial government spokesman Sarhadi Zwak said. Roughly one out of every seven coalition troops killed this year have died at the hands of Afghan police and soldiers. The majority of those victims were American.