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Waseem Naikzad / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan security force sit on top of a military vehicle in Laghman province Wednesday. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday he was very concerned about the rise in insider attacks on US and NATO troops, and the impact they are having on cooperation with Afghan allies.
News analysis
KABUL, Afghanistan – A group of U.S. Marines in Helmand province was invited to dinner by a local police commander and his men late last week. A little after midnight, under the dark Afghan sky, the Marines left the police compound and were shot in the back as they walked away. Three were killed.
Last week, seven Americans lost their lives after Afghans they were working with turned their weapons on them.
The military is now designating these incidents in which Afghan troops turn on coalition counterparts as "insider attacks," (they were once called "green-on-blue" incidents) to account for the non-security personnel also involved in the assaults.
Insider attacks are now at the highest level they have been since the start of the war.
Three US special ops troops killed, Afghan officials say
In 2007 and 2008 there were four such attacks and four deaths.
So far this year, there have already been 29 incidents in which Afghans turned their weapons on their coalition partners, killing 37. That’s compared with a total of 21 incidents, in which 35 were killed, in all of 2011.
The spike has startled many and brought calls to find the catalyst for the deadly problem.
Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images
Members of the Afghan National Army are helped by a US soldier as they participate in a map reading training session at Narizah base in Narizah, Khost Province, on August 12, 2012.
Who or what is to blame?
One group that would seem like the obvious culprit is the Taliban. They have claimed to infiltrate the Afghan National Security Forces, consisting of both the military and police, to help kill NATO troops from the inside.
Last year, the group called on more Afghans in uniform to join their cause and turn their weapons on the “foreign invaders” because of their access and proximity.
NATO does not deny some of the attacks have been from Taliban insurgency infiltration – but they attribute the trend to more than that.
Seven American troops killed in Afghan chopper crash
“There was infiltration; that is correct, we can acknowledge that,” said Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force based in Kabul. However, he said most of the attacks could be blamed on more basic warfare issues.
“The main reasons for those green on blue incidents are personal grievances, stress situations and what we call battle fatigue,” Katz said.
Hoshang Hashimi / AP
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
He attributes about 10 percent of the insider attacks to Taliban infiltration, and blames the remaining 90 percent on individual motives.
However, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged the Taliban are somewhat to blame for the attack earlier this week.
“The reality is, the Taliban has not been able to regain any territory lost, so they’re resorting to these kinds of attacks to create havoc,” Panetta told reporters in a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, according to Stars and Stripes.
Panetta later said there is “no one source” responsible for the attacks, and that there are several reasons why Afghan forces would turn on coalition troops.
Cultural divide
A former commander of the Afghan Border Police, Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil, blames the attacks on a disrespect of the Afghan culture by foreign forces.
“The main reason for these attacks is that the foreign troops have on many occasions humiliated the Afghan culture and religion,” Amarkhil said. “They’ve entered Afghan homes without permission, killed innocent civilians, they’ve bombarded wedding parties, they’ve entered our mosques with dogs, burned the Holy Quran. All of these are the factors that have contributed to the Afghan army or police being infiltrated by people who have been humiliated by the foreign troops.”
The Afghan general admitted it is not just the fault of NATO, adding that the insider attacks are also because of the weakness in the Afghan National Security Forces’ recruitment system.
“We don’t have a proper procedure for recruitment in our army or police. There are people in the Afghan army who have come from Pakistan and have made Afghan identity cards, " said Amarkhil, explaining that loyalties can be divided.
Training on Afghan culture
Amarkhil believes more should be done to show respect for the Afghan culture and religion by the foreign forces. And ISAF says they are doing just that.
“We continue to improve this process further and further in order to teach our guys [about] ‘what is Afghan culture.’ What can be done, what must not be done,” Katz said. “We are very serious about that.”
In the meantime, ISAF has implemented force protection measures to help prevent more insider attacks. Katz would not elaborate on what those measures are.
“We permanently assess the environment our soldiers are working in and assess if the current force protection measures are still in accordance to our assessment. And if not, we change them.”
But Katz says that these incidents, although tragic, are isolated.
“We had a very bad week last week,” he says. But he believes for the most part there is trust between the Afghan and international forces.
“The more we fight together, the more we trust each other.”
NBC’s Fazl Ahad contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
First it was the French. Then it was the Russians. Ten years later the US thats wants to bring Bush and Cheneys Jesus to their country. I'm sorry Bushes Jesus and Cheneys "Free Military Supply System". Did anyone in the Federal Government or Military ever have a course in Cultural Materialism or Anthropology. Oh thats right God made Americans in six days and on the seventh he rested! Time to go back to sleep.
I have three college degrees and have taken my fair share of cultural awareness courses. And I am also rated in an attack helo, which me and my mates flew in OEF. Using a mix of my liberal college education, the hard sciences and military situational awareness, I was able to make sure that my aim was true and my weapons mix was right, therefore defeating the enemy in every firefight that they started. Weapon systems do not discriminate against any religion nor will they try to convert anyone.
I've had a belly full of these scumbags shooting us in the back. Including their leader, head scumbag Karzai. The purpose for us going into Afghanistan is in retaliation for 9/11 and to get those responsible for killing our people.
None of us ever signed up to nation build. This is horsecrap. Bin Laden is dead. He's the one we wanted. His head on a stick. We never got that. Hell we never even got a picture that 'We got him'. And he was given the honors of a horsecrap islamic burial. That's more than that @!$%#stick ever gave any of the victims here in this country.
IT'S OVER. Time to bring our boys home. THAT IS ENOUGH. You can now stop trampling on our rights and liberties now. If your going to make this a permanent thing - then I guess Bin Laden won didn't he.
They hated us for our Freedom and Liberty. Well we'll fix that right?
Now it's over. STOP. Bring our kids home and get them out of harms way.
I can't even imagine where we've come to. Wanting to fly Drones over America's skies now are we?
End this insanity before you become the Syria that everyone warns you to stop bringing harm to your own people.
Who are we to interfere in their civil war? Who are we to interfere in every nations internal problems? This is what has gotten us into this predicament to begin with.
We need to get our noses back into our own business. Our sons and daughters were not born for you to play geopolitics with. They are sworn it to trust their leaders. Those that lead them have to be worthy of that trust and not of corporate corruption of the misguided military industrial complex.
The fact that the headline is so stupid- really MSNBC, you have to ask why the Afghans are shooting the NATO invaders who will not quit killing civilians- really?- shows why the US public allows the occupation to still go on by not demonstrating to end the utter futility. The millionaire frauds in the Congress are going to do what the Pentagon says until the public has a collective an anti war, anti fascist diatribe.
Afgans can't or won't have a infrastructure that is a true Government and that wont be bought off by the Taliban. I believe our soldiers are doing all they can and it is time for them to come home. Better to just use air strikes to kill the enemy, yet how about let them kill each other and we watch... We tried to help but they wont help themselves, so sad to bad Afgans go ahead live in the dark ages you morons.
What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces? Because our so-called "government" is stuck on stupid laced with galactic arrogance! That's why! Afghans just want us the hell out of their country. They are sick and tired of having their doors kicked in in the middle of the night and outraged over the killing and murder of thousands of their innocent civilians. That's why, you dimwits!
eyes wide folks, muslims of the world are envisioning them selves as the 'divined' new world order, and the US as their common enemy, hold on...not all muslims hate us you say... sure have some more kool aid, blood is thicker than water, and believe me when the chips are down...also we have an elected administration that is dividing us, preparing us for defeat, destroying our weapons and wealth, locking up our resources...their motives are..the new world order...see the picture.... prepare for death infidels, you have no plan, no unity and you are afraid to even speak the truth, no need to censor free speech we are politically correct, like trained idiots ripe for a beating
The problem is simple if we can think we honesty and outside the box.
american as it is feel supirior to god now they have not respect for the culture or the religion of this people .
so how can you trained someone that you have not respect for or don't want to be next to. is almost impossible to ask someone to do a job they don't want to do.
Brig. General Gunter Katz is an absolute fool. But then again, I served with NATO in 2006 and watched as the Dutch and Romanians retreated at every turn when the Taliban struck. NATO leaders have no concept of war and the need for an ROE that actually works. As far as Katz's idea of stress, battle fatigue and personal grievances, he is dead wrong. These attacks are premeditated, coordinated and backed by Taliban insurgents. They planned these attacks and will continue to do so if NATO does not create an environment which will make the Taliban suffer when they attack and kill our troops. Even a Marine General stated that the Afghans killed our troops due to fatigue and stress of fasting. This just goes to show you how the political correctness has even crept into the US General ranks and will end up with more deaths as they pimp themselves out for the next promotion.
It's very simple. Afghanistan hates us. So why are we there? Why not just take all our troops, all our equipment, and leave. If they get taken over by the Taliban again, so what. That seems to be what they want. Also, we should stop sending them money. Why pay for their killers?
We shouldn't be somewhere where we're not wanted. Let them be. Let them fend for themselves.
Sounds like we need gun control in Afghanistan.
As a combat medic in Viet Nam, I recommend 2 novels. The Watch, by Joydeep Bhagavida and Yellow Birds, by an Iraq veteran. You know the cadence, A Yellow bird, with a yellow bill perched upon my windowsill, I lured him in with a crust of bread, and then smashed his f...king head. This is what we do.
Victory
What does victory feel like? What does it look like? How is it measured? Can you taste and smell victory? Americans talk constantly about winning and the words we use contain phrases and words that reference sports and competitive activities. Our words betray us as a flat two dimensional culture that regards winning as the highest aspiration we desire. We show the world a fist pumping thumbs up gesture as the epitome of American worth. This more than any other attribute is what the world see us as. We need to be number one or we feel worthless and defeated. George Bush and his paper cut out minions started two wars based on lies because they envisioned an easy victory. Shielded by the bravery of being out of range they devastated a people and ancient civilized culture all for the glory of victory.
John McCain is blinded by the same juvenile fantasies that he was raised with. He wants to win so badly that he deceives his own spirit. The Surge in Iraq has nothing to do with the drop in violence. What has occurred is the same result from a strategy we employed in Viet Nam. The war in Viet Nam by 1969 was a morass of combat, murder, drug addiction and corruption. We were not winning, we were staying alive for each other. We employed a program called the Cheui Hoi. It was simply a pay off to any enemy combatant who switched sides. We established Kit Carson scouts who worked out with American units. They were paid salaries to lead us to the enemy caches and avoid ambushes. We did not know if we could truly trust someone who had been killing us. Some were double agents.
The Sunni Awakening in Iraq is the same strategy. We are now paying the men who killed us a monthly salary to not kill us. We are paying Moqtada’s Shiite army to lay low. The American tax payer is funding not only it’s own military, but also the mercenary contractors like Blackwater and the Iraqui insurgents. Can we buy victory? Gen. Petraeus and the glory hounds are blinded by the arrogance of American technical superiority. They kill from afar and dismiss the deaths of women and children as “collateral damage”. There is no honor in this and no courage is displayed by men who shy away from the battlefield. John McCain is safe in the rear with the gear now and finds it easy to send mine and his own children into the fire for some false sense of victory. I guess it is harder to stay home and raise your children, fund your schools and libraries properly and teach your children how to be responsible adults. It is easier to pull the trigger than it is to play the guitar or read to your kids.
Dave ionno
Veteran for peace