WATCH: In the 17-year war, it appears to be the closest the commanding general of forces has been to being shot or seriously harmed.

WATCH: In the 17-year war, it appears to be the closest the commanding general of forces has been to being shot or seriously harmed.

Army Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley was the wounded U.S. service member shot in Thursday's insider attack in Kandahar that killed two top Afghan officials in the province. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan was also present during that attack, but was unharmed.

Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley is pictured in this undated photo.

"I can confirm that General Smiley is recovering from a gunshot wound," Lt. Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led training command in Afghanistan, told ABC News.

Afghan security officials stand guard on a road as security has been intensified a day after a Taliban militant killed General Abdul Razzaq Dawood, an Afghan Police commander and Provincial Intelligence Chief as U.S. General Miller escaped unhurt, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Oct. 19, 2018.

"He is being treated at a Resolute Support hospital in Kandahar," said Neeley.

Smiley is the commander of the Training and Advise and Assist Command-South (TAAC-South) that has the lead in advising Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan and had assumed command in late June. He is a general with the California National Guard, in command of the Guard’s 40th Infantry, which is one of the lead units in Kandahar.

The identity of the U.S. service member injured in the attack had not been disclosed until Sunday after it was first reported by the Washington Post.

Carried out by a gunman believed to be an Afghan bodyguard, Thursday's attack killed the top police official in Kandahar Province as well as the province's top intelligence official. The governor of Kandahar was also wounded, as was another American civilian employee and an Afghan interpreter.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Andrew Poppas, deputy chief of staff for operations for Resolute Support Mission and the deputy commanding general for operations for U.S. Forces Afghanistan, hands the Train, Advise and Assist Command-South colors to U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, incoming commander for TAAC-South, June 30, 2018 during a Transfer of Authority ceremony in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

General Austin Scott Miller, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, was present during the shooting that started after his meeting with the Afghan officials.

The gunman opened fire as they waited outside for Miller's helicopter to arrive. The gunman was shot and killed almost immediately.

Miller told reporters Friday that he believes that the Afghan officials were the targets of the attack.

Miller, like the other U.S. personnel around him, pulled out his handgun, which is standard practice in such a situation.

"When there’s a threat, we will draw our weapons,” said Col. Dave Butler, a Resolute Support spokesman. "That’s what we’re trained to do and Gen. Miller is no exception."

What followed was a combination of U.S. and Afghan forces securing the area and tending to the wounded.

Miller had some of the wounded transported aboard his helicopter so they could quickly receive medical treatment.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack that appeared to be the closest a U.S. commanding general in Afghanistan has come to being shot or seriously harmed.

The insider attack delayed the key parliamentary elections in Kandahar by a week, they proceeded on schedule Saturday in the rest of the country.</s>The U.S. army has confirmed that a brigadier general was one of two Americans wounded in an attack last week in Afghanistan that fatally wounded a powerful Afghan police chief.

U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, in charge of NATO’s military advisory mission in Afghanistan, was shot when a gunman wearing an Afghan security forces uniform opened fire on a group of officials leaving a meeting with the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.

Miller escaped injury, but a U.S. civilian was also shot.

General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strong man, was mortally wounded, along with the local head of the NDS intelligence service General Abdul Momim.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack inside the highly secured compound, dealing a severe blow to the Afghan government in one of its most strategically important provinces. The incident demonstrated the insurgents’ ability to strike top leaders.</s>A United States general was wounded in a recent Taliban attack against a provincial governor's complex in southern Afghanistan in which several senior Afghan officials were killed, NATO's Resolute Support Mission confirmed on Monday.

US forces in Afghanistan had said on Oct. 18, the day of the attack, that two Americans - a soldier and a civilian - as well as a NATO contractor from another country were wounded in the attack, while Lt. Gen. Austin "Scott" Miller escaped unhurt.</s>A soldier in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission was killed and two others wounded on October 22 by an apparent insider attack in the western province of Herat.

A statement from the NATO mission’s headquarters in Kabul said: "Initial reports indicate the attack was committed by a member of the Afghan security forces.”

The nationality of the slain soldier was not immediately disclosed, but the AFP news agency reported that none of the NATO soldiers targeted in the attack were Americans.

The NATO statement gave no other details.

It was the latest in a series of attacks in which Afghan forces have turned their weapons on international troops with whom they are working.

On October 18, a gunman wearing a uniform of the Afghan security forces opened fire on a gathering of security chiefs in Kandahar that included the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.

Although three people were killed -- including the powerful provincial police chief in Kandahar, General Abdul Raziq -- Miller was not injured.

But U.S. Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in that attack.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa</s>US Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, who oversees the NATO military advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, was wounded in the Thursday insider attack that took place in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

“I can confirm that he is recovering from a gunshot wound he received during the attack in Kandahar,” Navy Cdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesman for the NATO Resolute Support mission, told CNN Sunday.

Smiley, the commander of Train, Advise, Assist and Command — South, is based in Kandahar. He is being treated for the wound and is still in charge of the command.

Previously, the NATO-led coalition had identified the two Americans wounded in the attack as a military service member and a civilian government employee.

Two Afghan officials, including the police chief of Kandahar province, were killed in the Thursday incident.

Gen. Scott Miller, the head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, drew his sidearm during the attack, according to a coalition member with direct knowledge of what happened. Miller did not fire.

The Washington Post was first to report Smiley’s being wounded.

CNN previously reported that the Taliban released a statement claiming responsibility, saying the group killed “the notorious police chief” who was their primary target in the attack. The shooter was killed by the US military, one official said Thursday.

The violence came as people went to the polls this weekend to vote in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election.</s>Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) The US military has admitted that a US general was wounded in the attack in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province last week which left four top provincial officials dead, according to American media reports.

Army Brigadier General Jefferey Smiley, who oversees the NATO military advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, was shot and wounded in a shooting following an Afghan-NATO security meeting, according to US media reports citing a Pentagon spokesperson.

“I can confirm that he is recovering from a gunshot wound he received during the attack in Kandahar,” Grant Neeley, a spokesman for the NATO Resolute Support mission, said in a statement released in the day, reports Xinhua news agency.

The attack on Thursday claimed the lives of four top provincial officials, including Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq. The shooter, who served as the Governor’s bodyguard, was also killed in the incident.

The attack came as the war-torn country prepared for long-delayed elections for the lower house of the Afghan parliament. Elections in Kandahar have been postponed.</s>The US serviceman injured in the insider attack that killed two top Afghan officials in the Kandahar province on Thursday was Army Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley.

Gen. Smiley's identity was not disclosed until yesterday, three days after a gunman believed to be an Afghan bodyguard opened fire on American and Afghan security forces, killing Kandahar's police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq and top intelligence official Gen. Abdul Mohmin.

The province's Governor Zalmai Wesa was also wounded, along with another American civilian employee and an Afghan interpreter.

The lone insider gunman, thought to be part of the provincial Governor's elite security team, was shot dead by the US military,CNN reported.

The top American military commander in Afghanistan, General Austin 'Scott' Miller, was also present during that attack and forced to draw his handgun, though he did not fire and was unharmed.

Lt. Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesman for the NATO-led training command 'Resolute Support' told ABC news on Sunday: 'I can confirm that General Smiley is recovering from a gunshot wound.

'He is being treated at a Resolute Support hospital in Kandahar.'

Gen. Smiley has been the commander of the Training and Advise and Assist Command-South (TAAC-South) since June. He has served in the Army for 30 years, becoming a general last year.

The TAAC-South plays the leading role in advising Afghan security forces in the south of the country.

He is in command of the California National Guard's 40th Infantry, one of the leading units in Kandahar.

Gen. Miller, who is the head of US and NATO forces in the country, told the Tolo News Agency on Friday he believes the attacker was specifically targeting the Afghan officials.

'What happened in Kandahar was an attack on the security forces,' he said.

'My assessment is that I was not the target. It was a very close confined space. But I don't assess that I was the target.'

Col. Dave Butler from Resolute support said the attack was 'over in a matter of seconds', according to ABC.

The began shortly after Gen. Miller had attended a meeting with the top civilian and military officials in Kandahar.

The insider began shooting while the group waited outside for Miller's helicopter and caught the American military by surprise.

Miller, who was not in the direct line of fire but was stood close by, drew his weapon along with the other US personnel, which Butler says is standard procedure.

'When there's a threat, we will draw our weapons,' he said. 'That's what we're trained to do and Gen. Miller is no exception.'

However, US military officials could not immediately the last time such a high-ranking US military officer had been forced to draw their weapon. Generals rarely find themselves under attack and even more rarely are they wounded.

Its appears to be the closest an American commanding general has come to being seriously injured in Afghanistan.

After the gunman was shot, American and Afghan forces secured the area and tended to the wounded, some of whom were treated on board Gen. Miller's helicopter.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they killed 'the notorious police chief' who was the main target.

The parliamentary elections in Kandahar, which were due to take place two days after the incident, have been by a week.

In a video recorded from his hospital bed, wounded Kandahar Governor Zalmai Wesa said he was in a better condition but called Thursday's attack an act of terror.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that he had met the police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq and that he was a 'patriot.'

In a statement provided by the NATO-led coalition, Gen. Miller said: 'Today I lost a great friend LTG Raziq.

'We had served together for many years. Afghanistan lost a patriot, my condolences to the people of Afghanistan.

'The good he did for Afghanistan and the Afghan people cannot be undone.'

Raziq was also dogged by accusations of serious human rights abuses - with the U.N. Committee against Torture calling for him to be prosecuted over allegations of torture and enforced disappearances.

Yet he was hugely influential in southern Afghanistan and US forces supported him as a bugger against insurgent and credited him with recent security improvements.

One thing is certain, that his death throws the region's future into uncertainty while the country is at a huge political crossroads.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said Thursday that he had ordered his security officials to investigate the attack.

Kandahar has been relatively stable compared to other regions of Afghanistan, but the assassination of a key American ally will cast doubts over its future stability as the government prepares for the long-awaited parliamentary elections.</s>US army general was among those injured in a Taliban attack on top US and Afghan security chiefs inside a highly secure compound last week in Kandahar province, a military spokesman confirmed. US Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, in charge of NATO’s military advisory....Read more via Channels Television – https://ift.tt/2CXVE8G Get more World News</s>(ABC News) -- Army Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley was the wounded U.S. service member shot in Thursday's insider attack in Kandahar that killed two top Afghan officials in the province. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan was also present during the attack, but was unharmed.

"I can confirm that General Smiley is recovering from a gunshot wound," Lt. Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led training command in Afghanistan, told ABC News.

"He is being treated at a Resolute Support hospital in Kandahar," said Neeley.

Smiley is the commander of the Training and Advise and Assist Command-South (TAAC-South) that has the lead in advising Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan. He is a general with the California National Guard, in command of the Guard’s 40th Infantry, which is one of the lead units in Kandahar.

The identity of the U.S. service member injured in the attack had not been disclosed until Sunday after it was first reported by the Washington Post.

Carried out by a gunman wearing an Afghan security uniform, Thursday's attack killed the top police official in Kandahar Province as well as the province's top intelligence official. The governor of Kandahar was also wounded, as was another American civilian employee and an Afghan interpreter.

The gunman was shot almost immediately after opening fire.</s>KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, was confirmed as one of two Americans wounded in Thursday’s attack that killed the police chief of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said.

Smiley, commander of Resolute Support’s training and advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, was shot when a member of the provincial governor’s bodyguard opened fire on a group of officials leaving a meeting with the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.

“I can confirm US. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley was wounded during a recent insider attack in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province,” a spokeswoman for the NATO-led force said in an emailed statement.

Miller was unhurt but Kandahar police chief, General Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most prominent anti-Taliban commanders, was fatally wounded along with the local head of the NDS intelligence service General Abdul Momim.

The attack, which was claimed by the Taliban, was a devastating blow to the government, decapitating the security command of one of Afghanistan’s most strategically important provinces and demonstrating the insurgents’ ability to strike even top leaders.

Along with Smiley, one U.S. civilian and a coalition contractor were wounded as the group of officials made their way to a helicopter due to take Miller and his party back to Kabul.
A NATO spokesperson confirms Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley as the American wounded by gunfire three days earlier during the attack in which Abdul Raziq Achakzai was assassinated.