WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has confirmed that U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley was shot in a Taliban attack that killed two Afghan leaders in Kandahar province last week.
U.S. military spokesman Cmdr. Grant W. Neeley provided no other details. The Washington Post reported earlier Sunday that Smiley was recovering after suffering at least one gunshot wound while he was inside the Kandahar governor’s compound.
The Taliban assassinated two top provincial officials Thursday in an attack on a security conference attended by the top U.S. military commander in the country, Gen. Scott Miller. He escaped injury.
Smiley was assigned in the summer to lead a Kandahar-based command with a mission to train and advise Afghan security forces and help with counterterrorism operations in southern Afghanistan.
He entered enlisted military service in 1983 in the Marine Corps before transitioning to the Oregon National Guard, according to a Resolute Support biography. Smiley transferred to the California National Guard in 1987 and was commissioned in 1988. Smiley assumed command of Train, Advise, Assist Command-South on June 30.
