Early August 10, an Afghan police commander killed three US soldiers whom he had invited for dinner the night before. The same evening, an assistant to the district police chief attacked and killed three US soldiers in a joint base of the Afghan and international forces.
In the latest incident, on Monday, one foreign soldier and a member of the Afghan intelligence agency were injured when an Afghan policeman fired at them in the eastern province of Nangarhar. It was the fifth "insider" attack within one week. Those are just a few of the examples in what is shaping up into a trend of local workers violently attacking their foreign counterparts. The incidents are increasingly worrying international troops trying to bring order to Afghanistan.
During a media roundtable on Monday, the new US ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said the attacks are "really lamentable" and "troubling." "I can not assess, I don't know if anybody can assess, what the effects on morale is or what the impact is. But it is obviously very troubling," he said.
Brigadier General Gunter Katz, the spokesman for the Nato-led alliance, said at least 37 foreign soldiers have been killed this year in what he termed an "insider threat." Monday's attack puts the total number of such incidents at 28 for 2012. Twenty-two of those resulted in fatalities among foreign troops, while two incidents were without any injuries or fatalities, according to ISAF.
In all of 2011, there were 21 incidents in which 35 soldiers were killed. Such attacks risk straining the relationship and decreasing the trust between Afghanistan and its international allies just as the country prepares to take over its own security responsibilities. It also raises the question of whether the insurgent movement has indeed been able to infiltrate Afghan forces, despite countermeasures.
Earlier this week, the Taliban, on their website, released a video which showed members of the insurgent movement enthusiastically welcoming two Afghan soldiers in eastern Kunar province. The "defecting soldiers" had fled after killing foreign troops, according to the video. The Taliban called them "Ghazi of Ghaziabad". Ghaziabad is a volatile district in Kunar province.
Although the Taliban does claim responsibility for most such attacks, Nato officials say those are due to personal issues. "Most of these incidents were caused by personal grievances, by stress situations and battle fatigue," Katz said. "And, yes, we found cases of infiltration as well, but they were in the one digit (figures) compared to the other reasons."
Last year, the Afghan military, under advisement from international allies, changed its vetting process when the trend started to manifest. Katz said the process requires: two letters from local elders as a character reference; criminal records and biometrics checks; and education on cultural sensitivity among Afghan and foreign soldiers. The coalition has also implemented force protection measures. Katz declined to say what some of those measures are, except that they are "random" and "often."
Afghan officials have said that secret intelligence officers have been inserted into many Afghan security forces' units to spy on other troops. There is also increasing vigilance among the forces. There are "guardian angels" who watch over fellow soldiers. In many joint units, Afghan soldiers are not allowed to carry weapons, unlike their foreign counterparts.
But these measures have not stopped the attacks. According to Long War Journal, a blog that reports on terrorist groups and activities, at least 93 ISAF soldiers have been killed by Afghan security forces since May 2007. "(We) understand that those incidents don't represent the entire situation of Afghanistan at all," Katz said on Monday, adding the picture does not portray any trend.
"We take them very, very seriously, but you must not forget that, on the other side, we still have almost 500,000 soldiers and policemen who work together right now actually in order to pressure the insurgency and fight for more stability and security in this country," Katz told reporters. A June 2011 military report said the killing of foreign soldiers by Afghan troops was turning into a "rapidly growing systemic threat" that could undermine the entire war effort.
"Relationships among military, particularly when working as closely together as ISAF soldiers are with the Afghan soldiers, are built in confidence and trust. And obviously this undermines that, or attacks that confidence and trust," Cunningham said at the embassy gathering. "But it is also something that both our folks and Afghans are determined to get over."
Comments
Comments are closed.