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commander Haji Najibullah is accused of killing US military personnel in 2008. The indictment comes on the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
US authorities on Thursday charged a former Taliban commander with killing US troops in 2008.
In a statement the US Department of Justice said: "Haji Najibullah, previously charged in the 2008 kidnapping of an American journalist, was also indicted today for 2008 attacks on US Service members in Afghanistan, including attacks resulting in the deaths of three American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter and the downing of a US helicopter."
News of the indictment comes on the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
WHAT ARE THE CHARGES IN DETAIL?
The charge relates to offenses committed against US troops between 2007 and 2009.
In one instance he is accused of being involved in, three service personnel were killed on June 26, 2008 when their convoy was attacked.
In another incident Najibullah and fighters under his command allegedly downed a US military helicopter with RPGs in October 2008. Its understood that at the time the Taliban claimed that all those on board had perished, when in fact, no one was killed.
The former commander is also alleged to have been involved in the kidnapping of an American journalist along with two Afghan nationals in November 2008.
Their three hostages were forced to hike over the border into Pakistain where they were then detained for the next seven months. The statement alleges that the kidnappers made calls to the journalist's wife in which he was made to beg for his life at gunpoint.
Prosecutor Audrey Strauss said in the statement:"As alleged, during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict in Afghanistan, Haji Najibullah led a vicious band of Taliban holy warriors who terrorized part of Afghanistan and attacked US troops."
Najibullah was arrested in October 2020 and extradited from Ukraine to the US where he is being held.