These were members of the Afghan judiciary, which the Taliban consider illegitimate and not fully Sharia-adherent. This happened, moreover, while American troops are there. It will keep on happening after American troops are gone. Our expenditure of blood and treasure in Afghanistan is useless, and should have ended a very long time ago.
“Judges killed in attack in Afghanistan,” Reuters, November 8, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Three judges and a court staffer have been killed in Afghanistan after Taliban militants stopped their car in the latest attack on the judiciary.
A spokesman for the governor in eastern Paktia province says the incident took place in the Mohammad Agha district of neighbouring Logar province.
“They were travelling in a car but were stopped by the Taliban checkpoint on the road,” Abdullah Hasrat said on Thursday.
No group has claimed responsibility for attack, which came as the victims were driving to the capital, Kabul.
Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow the foreign-backed Afghan government have long targeted the judiciary in retaliation for harsh sentences given to their fighters….
The Taliban now controls more territory than at any point since the US invasion of the country in 2001….
As Afghan police casualties mounted, the Afghan government this year pulled back from hundreds of checkpoints in isolated areas that acted as a magnet for Taliban attacks.
However, many Afghans complain that the Taliban and other militant groups have now set up checkpoints along the main highways, searching cars and looking for government employees.