What were the Afghan “Zero Units” that the National Guard shooting suspect reportedly worked for?
An image of an ID badge circulating widely online Thursday that purportedly shows the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members says he was assigned to the “Kandahar Strike Force” or “03” unit, one of a number of so-called “Zero Units” that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.
The badge also carries the words “Firebase Gecko,” which was the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was previously the compound of the Taliban’s founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the ID badge shown in the photos, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had previously worked “with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.”
The “Zero Units” were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s previous, U.S.-backed government.
A former senior Afghan general under that previous government told CBS News on Thursday that “03 unit, also known as The Kandahar Strike Force (KSF), was under special forces directorate of NDS. They were the most active and professional forces, trained and equipped by the CIA. All their operations were conducted under the CIA command.”
The units were known in Afghanistan for their secrecy and alleged brutality, and members were implicated in numerous extrajudicial killings of civilians, particularly during night raids.
They were considered by the U.S. and its international partners to be among the most trusted domestic forces in Afghanistan.
There was no immediate reaction from Afghanistan’s current Taliban government, and officials in Kabul did not respond to CBS News’ requests for comment on the arrest in Washington.
As a member of a Zero Unit, the suspect would have been virtually guaranteed a route to asylum in the U.S. because members of these elite units were high on the list for Taliban retaliation after the group retook control of the country. Many members of these units played key roles in the August 2021 evacuation from Kabul, in return for a guarantee of space on a flight for themselves and their families out of Afghanistan.
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