U.S. Charges Ex-Taliban Commander in Killing of 3 Soldiers in ’08 Attack
The New York Times
The man, Haji Najibullah, was charged last year with kidnapping an American journalist and two Afghan nationals months after the deadly assault.
On a June day in 2008, three U.S. soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were ambushed and killed when their Humvee convoy was hit during a combat patrol by mines and rocket-propelled grenades about 50 miles south of Kabul. At least one of the men was dragged off and dismembered, Afghan and Western officials said at the time.
More than 13 years after the brutal attack and about a month after America’s two-decade war in Afghanistan ended, a man whom the federal authorities described as a former Taliban commander was charged on Thursday with four counts of murder in the killings as well as other terrorism-related crimes, including the downing of a U.S. military helicopter.
The man, Haji Najibullah, was already in federal custody after being charged last year with kidnapping an American journalist and two Afghan nationals who were taken hostage at gunpoint several months after the deadly roadside offensive.
