The last attack was by a man who had been in the Afghan Local Police for five days. How likely is it that he became so aggrieved in that short period of time that he started shooting as soon as he received his weapon? NATO leaders are trying to fool us, or themselves, into not seeing what a disaster the Afghan mission has become.
“NATO: Most attacks on coalition troops driven by personal grievances,” by Masoud Popalzai and Chelsea J. Carter for CNN, August 18 (thanks to David):
(CNN) — NATO says the majority of attacks by Afghan security forces against coalition troops are driven primarily by personal grievances rather than an infiltration by insurgents.
“Some 10% we know are related to the insurgency,” Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said late Friday.
The news follows word that U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, ordered all troops in the country to carry loaded weapons around the clock following a spate of attacks by people wearing Afghan security uniforms, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the order told CNN.
Allen’s order, made in recent days, was divulged amid two more so-called green-on-blue or insider attacks Friday.
There have been a record 31 such attacks this year that have resulted in the deaths of 39 NATO service members, according to a report Friday on NATO’s official online video channel.
Coalition steps up fight against Afghan ‘green-on-blue’ attacks
The British Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, said Saturday that a British soldier was killed “by enemy action” Friday while on sentry duty in Helmand province in the south.
The death was not related to a green-on-blue attack, said Maj. Martyn Crighton, an ISAF spokesman. He did not release details about the attack or the nationality of the service member killed.
Troops in Afghan combat situations have always been armed, while only security forces have been regularly armed at the headquarters bases.
Under Allen’s order, troops regardless of their tasks will now carry loaded weapons, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity….
That they weren’t doing so already is an immense scandal.