U.S. soldiers exchange fire with allied Afghan troops

"The 10-minute firefight began Tuesday night when Afghan soldiers near Zormat district stopped the Americans and asked them for a password required for traveling on roads after a 9 p.m. curfew, Afghan commander Abul Matin Husainkhil said by satellite phone from nearby Gardez.

He said that the Americans did not know the password and that the two sides briefly fired at each other with automatic weapons."