http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/world/asia/31afghan.html

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a confusing nighttime firefight, an American-Afghan force called in an airstrike on an Afghan Army checkpoint on Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers and prompting a denunciation from the country’s Defense Ministry.

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According to American and NATO officials, the firefight broke out at about 3 a.m. on a darkened road in the village of Shinz, west of Kabul. A team of American and Afghan soldiers approached an Afghan Army checkpoint and opened fire, an Afghan official said.

With the firefight under way, the American-Afghan team called in a helicopter gunship to attack the checkpoint. The aerial attack killed the four Afghan soldiers and wounded seven others.

“After the investigation is completed, the Defense Ministry wants to bring those responsible to justice,” the ministry said in a statement.

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the governor of Wardak Province, said the force was a joint Special Forces unit. They were returning from a mission when the shooting broke out, he said.

“It was a mistake,” he said.

Such so-called friendly fire episodes are not uncommon; in November, seven Afghan soldiers were killed in a firefight with American troops in Baghdis Province during a search for a missing soldier.

Special Forces units are especially vulnerable to such attacks because they often travel in small groups and at night, and they sometimes do not inform regular forces of their whereabouts.

Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, called the event a “regrettable incident” and promised an investigation.

“We work extremely hard to coordinate and synchronize our operations,” he said in a statement.

Also Saturday, the Taliban’s leaders denounced reports that their representatives had met with a senior United Nations official to discuss the possibility of face-to-face peace talks with the Afghan government.

In a statement sent to reporters, the Taliban leadership council called reports that its people had met with Kai Eide, the United Nations’ representative here, “futile and baseless.”

“The leadership council once again emphasizes the continuation of the Islamic jihad against all invaders,” the statement said.

The leadership council is commonly referred to as the Quetta shura, named for the Pakistani city where most of its members, including the supreme leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, are thought to be based.

The Taliban statement followed reports by American and United Nations officials that a group of men representing the Taliban had met Mr. Eide at an undisclosed location this month. The purpose of the meeting, the officials said, was to discuss the possibility of opening formal peace talks between the guerrilla group and the Afghan government.

The missive issued by the Taliban followed a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at seeking a political settlement to end the war. In an international conference last week in London, President Hamid Karzai publicly invited the Taliban to take part in peace talks.

Earlier last week, the United Nations Security Council lifted sanctions against five former Taliban officials, a move that could allow them to represent the Taliban in any talks.

It is not clear whom from the Taliban Mr. Eide met. But the Taliban’s angry denial suggests either that the group’s senior leaders did not know about the meeting, or that they are trying to hide the fact that they are considering a possible deal.

For the West, striking a deal with the Taliban leadership would be tricky as well, not least because Mullah Omar provided sanctuary to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks.

The American military said Saturday that two American soldiers killed west of Kabul on Friday had been shot by their Afghan interpreter. The shooting is being investigated, but so far there are no indications that the Afghan was acting out of anything other than personal motives, a military official said.

“All the information we have suggests that he was a disgruntled employee,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the shooting was still being investigated. “He was being fired.”

The Afghan interpreter, who was not identified, was killed after the attack, the official said.

The shooting echoes a similar one in November, when five British soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan police officer in Helmand Province. The assailant escaped.

In Ghazni Province, two Afghan civilians were killed Friday and another was wounded when a group of American soldiers shot their car as it approached a checkpoint near Muqor, NATO officials said. The soldiers shot the car after the driver, traveling at high speed, failed to heed several warnings, NATO said.

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.