---
title: "Taliban Fighters Massacre Scores Of Afghanistan Security Forces — Again"
date: "2018-09-10"
modified: "2018-09-10"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/taliban-massacre-afghanistan-security-forces/"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# Taliban Fighters Massacre Scores Of Afghanistan Security Forces — Again

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/18989811-4.jpg>)

Taliban fighters massacred more than 57 Afghan military personnel and police officers in four separate attacks across northern Afghanistan, Afghan officials [told](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/asia/taliban-attacks-afghanistan.html>) the New York Times on Monday, the latest in a series of devastating and demoralizing attacks on security forces there.

- The Monday attack consisted of what the New York Times [described](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/asia/taliban-attacks-afghanistan.html>) as "simultaneous assaults on six outposts" in a single strategic district in the Kunduz Province followed by several devastating assaults in outlying provinces, all of which left at least a dozen Afghan soldiers and police officers dead.
- The offensive came the day after 40 Afghan security personnel were killed when the Taliban [overran](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/world/asia/afghanistan-military-base-attack.html>) a military base in the Baghlan province, "[the second major base to fall](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/world/asia/afghanistan-base-attack-taliban.html>) to the insurgents in Baghlan Province in the past month, and [the third in northern Afghanistan](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/world/asia/the-afghan-armys-last-stand-at-chinese-camp.html>) during the same period," [per](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/world/asia/taliban-attacks-afghanistan.html>) the New York Times.
- The rough start to September for Afghan security forces comes after a month that saw Taliban fighters occupy Ghazni City and wipe out up to 100 Afghan commandos, their advance halted only when U.S. forces struck back with air support from B-1 bombers, A-10 Thunderbolt II attack craft, AH-64 Apache helicopters, and MQ-9 Reaper drones.
- It's unsurprising to read reports of Afghan security forces fleeing the path of oncoming Taliban hordes during the Kunduz and Ghazni City assaults, as the Times noted: Afghan soldiers and police officers a have increasingly endured particularly demoralizing defeats ever since Taliban commandos from the militants' so-called 'Red Unit' slaughtered scores of Afghan troops in a 36-hour period in November 2017.
- A new analysis by the New York Times [suggests](<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/08/world/asia/us-misleads-on-afghanistan.html>) that the Taliban control far more territory in Afghanistan than previously disclosed to the public: 61% of the country compared to the 44% documented by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

https://twitter.com/a_a_jackson/status/1038812645934211072

The U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan turns 17 on October 17th — just old enough to fight in a war with no end in sight.

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-1545.png>)

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/jaredbkeller>)  
[Facebook](<https://www.facebook.com/jaredbkeller>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredbkeller/>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/jaredbkelller/>)