At War is a newsletter about the experiences and costs of war with stories from Times reporters and outside voices.

Only a few people know exactly what happened the night of Oct. 22 on Shindand Air Base in western Afghanistan. Earlier that day, Wahidullah Khan, a 19-year-old Afghan commando, fired on a group of Czech soldiers who were in Afghanistan training Khan and his counterparts. Cpl. Tomas Prochazka was killed. Two of his comrades were wounded. It was one of the four insider attacks on Western forces this year, a grim benchmark for a war now known for repeated ally-on-ally killings.

The events from the rest of that day are murky. Hours after the shooting, Khan was arrested by Afghan security forces and handed over to coalition troops. American Green Berets were involved in the exchange, according to American officials, but the extent of their involvement remains unclear. When Khan was returned to Afghan forces around midnight, he was unconscious. He died soon after. Some Afghan and American officials believe Czech soldiers beat Khan close to death before returning him to proper custody.

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The motive for Khan’s attack was unclear. Officials believe either he was a Taliban insider or had been in an argument with his Czech trainers. Khan’s family wants to know what happened and why. “Nobody has told us who arrested him, who gave him to the foreigners,” Hayaturahman Khan, the soldier’s brother, told The Times last week.