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Subscribe to RSSThe shooting deaths of two American soldiers in Kabul by an Afghan colleague are under investigation, with Afghan officials are saying it was an accident. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.
An Afghan soldier shot and killed two American soldiers on Monday during a dispute in Laghman province in Afghanistan. The Afghan soldier was then shot and killed by U.S. forces.
"ISAF troops returned fire, killing the ANA (Afghan National Army) soldier who committed the attack,'' the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.
A senior military official in Kabul strongly disputes an Afghan military account which claims the two Americans were killed accidentally when the Afghan tripped on his weapon, which discharged and struck the U.S. servicemen. “The Afghan account is tortured beyond belief and total bull****,” the official told NBC News.
The deaths in Laghman brought the number of foreign soldiers killed this month to 12, prompting NATO to increase security against insider attacks, including requiring soldiers to carry loaded weapons at all times on base.
The deaths also come a week after U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey visited Kabul to talk about rogue shootings and urge Afghan officials to take tougher preventative action.
Taliban behead 17 civilians after 'late-night dance and music party'
There have been 33 insider attacks so far this year that have led to 42 coalition deaths. That is a sharp increase from 2011, when, during the whole year, 35 coalition troops were killed in such attacks, 24 of whom were American.
In all, 73 Americans have been killed by so-called “friendly forces” in the nearly 11-year war, with more than half occurring in the past eight months.
NBC's Richard Engel discusses the troop "surge" in Afghanistan – something touted as a success by the military, but questioned by many Afghans and also some in the U.S. who worry the troops will leave in 2014 with Afghanistan as a failed state.
Afghanistan's government said on Wednesday it would re-examine the files of 350,000 soldiers and police to help curb rogue shootings of NATO personnel, but accused "foreign spies" of instigating the attacks.
Afghan sources: Top Haqqani militant commander killed
The killings, many of which have been claimed by the Taliban as evidence of insurgent reach and infiltration, have eroded trust between the NATO-Afghan allies and are complicating plans for transition to Afghan security within two years.
NATO commanders have played down the threat of infiltration, blaming most of the shootings on stress or personal differences between Afghans and their Western advisers that ended at the point of a gun, a frequent occurrence in Afghanistan.
But the U.S. general leading NATO forces in Afghanistan acknowledged last Thursday that the Taliban could be traced to more insider attacks than previously acknowledged, accounting for about a quarter of the cases.
US deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000 in 'forgotten' war
The Afghan government agreed after Dempsey's visit to improve the vetting of army and police recruits by requiring stronger guarantors, a more stringent test questionnaire and biometric data on all would-be and existing personnel.
More undercover intelligence officers would be recruited and placed in Afghan security forces to keep an eye on soldiers and police, while security force members with families in neighboring countries would be heavily scrutinized for possible relations or exposure to cross-border insurgents.
But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman also said the number of attacks was also relatively small given the presence of 120,000 foreign troops among 350,000 Afghan security forces.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Just pull out
I agree.
most of the Afghan security forces are either Taliban or Taliban sympathisers; what the hell are we doing there, spending 11 billion dollars building their roads, infrastructure, power plants, water and sewage systems, get out now.
Obama's politically incorrect rules of ingagement are a complete and total failure.....he should be sent back to murder incorporated Chicago to staple telephone poles. He can bring his disbarred wife along for the ride.
I agree. Just leave lots of sharp knives behind so they can start chopping each others heads off. They're going to do it anyway.
There have been just a few too many of these "accidents" lately for anyone to buy that crap. When we have reached the point where we can't even trust the "good guys" there anymore, I agree, we need to get out of there now.
American people are too brainwashed to force a pull out on their government. An average Joe believes that somehow the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq keep America safer. What a pussy riot...
Just another day in Afghanistan. We should abandon Petaeus' quixotic attempt to bring democracy to people who have lived by tribal law for 2,000 years. We are only turning more and more Afghanis into haters of the NATO forces. Haters turn into terrorists,
@saxon - you do not have a clue what you are talking about. Yes, a few Taliban have infiltrated the Afghan security forces, but they are certainly not the majority. Most Afghans want nothing to do with the Taliban. I agree that it is time for us to get out of Afghanistan because I do not think our remaining for another two years is going to make much of a difference in the final outcome. The Karzai government has some limited control within Kabul and absolutely no control at all outside of the capital. Once the US leaves, Afghanistan will degenerate into a bunch of warring little fiefdoms controlled by local warlords and tribal leaders. The diverse makeup of the people of Afghanistan from a tribal and ethnic standpoint means that no central government will ever succeed unless they rule by force. There is no way that a democratic government will work so long as there is the continued distrust between the different tribes and ethnic groups.
Right on Saxon! That $11 BILLION dollars would have been a great economic boost for our economy had it been spent on rebuilding America's infrastructure instead of enriching the pockets of the war profiteers and corrupt Afghans including Karzi the biggest crook and secret Taliban sympathizer. How else could the Afghan gov. be so deeply penetrated by the Taliban?! And here we are the second administration to pour billions upon billions into the hands of the enemy-the Taliban and the war profiteers.
jsinsd: son in law, just finished second tour, e-7, outside of the capital the Taliban have almost total control; the different security forces, must be kept segregated , as to their tribal origin; ; he told me on patrol, never led a Afghan security force member behind you; he is career army, served in first gulf war also; to quote him , " these are really weird group of people"; you are correct, they are a tribal society, they want nothing to do with democracy.
That's what she said.
Yo Trash: Rewriting history to fit neatly into your own jaded, corrupted, left wing radical BS philosophy of liberalism and failure??? Here is a novel idea how about sticking that Muslim radical extremist occupying the white house up your dumb ass????
How does everyone feel about the ending of this war? Another year and a half to go. That amounts to another 200 deaths to insider attacks by the time it's done. Staying is allowing them to continue these attacks. Election coming up. Vote out the people who do not demand a stop to this war now!. It is the only way to start fixing this country.
Terner - You certainly fit the redneck trash description to a T. This country has its share of simple minded T bagger morons like you who have no clue as to what they are ranting about. They just repeat the slogans their handlers fill thier pin brained minds with. All you can see is a black guy that has accomplished something that trash like you can never hope to achieve and can't stand it. Well, you are going to have to stand it for another 4 years, dirtbag.
Instill the threat of Marine "Death Squads" kicking in the doors of these filthy scum's homes and annihilating THEIR families right in their homes and you'll see this sh-t fingered trigger pulling epidemic come to a SCREECHING HALT!!.....KILL!....KILL!....KILL!
............But unfortunately, that will never happen and the sh-t fingered trigger pullers know it.....get out now..........
I agree just pull out! But wait they just keep F^@king with people out side their country. I'm sure all the bleeding hearts with no b@lls will cry foul but just nuke these scumbags. Then go on TV and ask who else wants to screw with us.
But alas we have no B@lls left...
PRP
I'm not for mass killings of any kind, just gives too much ammunition to recruit more terrorists, but we've given them almost a decade now to help start a "democracy." They don't want one, they only hold loyalty to their tribes, and yes they will probably harbor people that intend to do harm to America again, once we are completely gone. Next time an attack on Americans is tracked back to Afghanistan, we just need to make bomb runs over the villages of the strongest tribes in the areas where sympathizers and terrorists live. Let it be the responsibility of those that harbor this hatred to answer for the consequences of their failure to act. We've given them time to work it out, but once we're gone, we need to stay gone. No more boots on the ground in the future, just bombs.
Still more verbal diarrhea from the Obama haters. Which president got us into Afghanistan and then got us in ANOTHER war in Iraq under false pretenses? Hmmm. What WAS his name??? I think it rhymed with Tusch...
At least this POS that shot our soldiers won't "fall on his weapon" again.
Why have are troops not returned home yet, didnt Obummer promise they would come home?
Call McCain's office do not pass the issue on Obama
Your name says it all. Maybe you haven't noticed, but McCain is not the POTUS.
huffi
From Iraq yes. From Afghanistan no. Which the gop was all upset about, (pulling out of either place) by the way.
one of many broken promises by that idiot occupying the WH. shall we start a list of broken promises and failures of this administration?
Just another indication that we should have been out of there 10 years ago. This country will never be considered "civilized" by western standers within the next 50 years. We leave and if the government starts causing trouble for another nation then we send in the missiles and that's it!
Yeah you gotta realize what's realistic at this point. Afghanistan is like a chronic infection. You can't get rid of it, but you can keep it contained so it doesn't kill you. That's basically our option at this point.
If they want to tolerate the Taliban and their views then that's fine with me, but expect to constantly have @!$%# raining down on your heads for the next generation.
Better your people than mine.
Leave the country. My idea is to allow all US troops that want to leave the country to leave the country, no harm, no foul, today, right now, ASAP. The remainder of the troops that wish to stay in Afghanistan should get our support and so be it. The Congress ought to stop supporting this war effort if anyone on earth can demonstrate as they have done already that it is just to employ people within their districts and to line their pockets with money. In other words, let's get out of this place today.
When your allies are shooting your troops routinely, it's time to leave. I'm not one to cut and run, it was disastrous for us after Vietnam, but then we weren't losing more troops to friendly fire ("Green-on-Blue"), then enemy action. It's time to see if the Afghans can make it on their own. There could be long term consequences among our troops if they believe the administration doesn't care enough to protect them from our own allies. "Blue-on-Blue" incidents unfortunately happen in every war, but they are almost always a mistake. When it gets to be a routine habit that Afghan government troops are killing Americans, it's unacceptable.
It's a good thing that Aghani soldier said he tripped over his weapon. If he'd said it went off while he was cleaning it, nobody would have believed him.
Denver - the soldier never had a chance to explain what happened he was killed immediately by US troops that he fired upon
to Ternan, and rightfully so he was killed. next time he will pick up his feet , except there wont be a next time for him to kill an american soldier. these people will continue to kill americans as long as we are there and we should stop trusting the NATO leader so much. i personally think NATO troops have done much damage over there and let american troops have the blame and our president would rather protect NATO than our own. we need to stop feeding karzai"s greedy face , he is making big bucks during this situation, and could care less about any relations. he does not care about the afghan people either and that leaves them with not much hope anyway, but nothing we can do about it . maybe we need to relocate the office of our president and the congress to afghan so they can communicate on a more personal basis.
Our govt. needs to just be honest on exact reason we are still in Afghanstan. Taking over twelve years on training is a no brainer that it don't take that long. In return, I'm glad at least we have an exit year told to us.
It was a 'no brainer' getting into it--------and Mr GWB was the right man for the job------"Great job, George!!
Obama owns this failure too. We voted for him because he would get us out of the war - Well????? We don't have to blame Bush anymore, we voted him out almost 4 years ago. My mistake was voting for a no-brainer Obama.
Been There. If you were awake in 2008 you would know that Obama did not say he would get us out of Afghanistan. He said he would get us out of Iraq. Go back and read something. Please!!!
Christ Deb - where have you been? We have not been training Afghan forces for 12 years - we fought to fight for the first 7 years
Support our troops---bring them home alive! What, exactly are we supposed to be doing there,playing dominoes, winning hearts and minds. We are wasting the lives of our troops and others for no discernible reason, and we may need those forces if the neocons take over in November, because they would beyond doubt get us involved in a shooting war somewhere. Gotta be some WMDs out there, gotta be. Like the Vietnamese in a previous idiocy, the Afghan people have historically known nothing but warfare. They thrive on it. And, like the Vietnamese, they eventually get around to kicking the asses of all invaders and occupiers. It is written that a sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with expectations of varying results. The Afghan people are good at two things: Killing and making that good black Afghani hash. We need to come on home and let them get back to it!
The Taliban is not our enemy, obama has to go!
RU Sure - sure. And nobody from that country coordinated and funded an attack that caused the world trade center buildings to fall - killing over 3,000 people.
Lest your manure is listened to - the Taliban supported and gave cover for the group that attacked us. International law allows any country to retaliate against any country that commits an act of war - and Afghanistan did that (and the Taliban was in charge of Afghanistan at the time). Every country is responsible for the acts of its citizens and residents. History supports this claim. If you were to attack a country (or fund & coordinate the attack) and your host country did not take action, then they are sanctioning the act by their lack of action.
Revisionist history only works when you can censor the truth...
Interested: i agree but your relaying information to a hostile ignorant audience - this site msnbc is populated by left wing radical welfare recipients more accustomed to having their news fed to them by the radical left as they are handed their welfare checks. Kind of like throwing pearls to swine.
obama is a taliban
GWB and his cowboys sure got us into one 'hell' of a mess!!----It is a good idea to give it all back to Romney and his Republican Fk-ups-----they deserve it---using the proverb "you created it, then you fix it!!!"
Yes he did....But Obama won't let us go.....WHY NOT?????
3 almost 4 yrs Obama promised we would be out by his second year in office. You can't keep blaming Bush it's Obama's failure not to get our troops out.
Two people to blame a. Bush, for putting us there in the first place & b. Obama, for not "pulling the plug."
c. The thiord question is "would Romney do anything about either---he is rattling swords about Syria!!!"---that is all we need!!!
Further evidence we are not needed there. Our current administrator is too faq'ing ignorant to do the right thing and bring US soldiers back to home soil ...
But let's blame GWB for STILL being there going on 4 years after he left office -- -BS!!!
Obama is rattling swords at Iran - Let's face it we need to leave the middle east.
Yes, lets blame GWB for his stupidity in getting us into the mess in the first place------------everyone, regardless of party should be held accountable for their f-ups-----those that were President and those who are President!!!
Think about this too-----the founding fathers often said "do not have political party's"---------the politicians all love to to talk about the founding fathers-------but do not say a word about the founding fathers saying that political Parties are NOT needed!!
Been There,
Again you are misusing quotes. Obama never said he would end Afghanistan. What he was talking about was Iraq, not the Middle East in general. We do have an exit date for Afghanistan though so your point is moot.
Why are we still having this discussion???? We NEED to pull our troops out now...It is UNEXCUSABLE for anymore deaths in this useless manor. This is not acceptable and never was...WHY do we have to keep upping our own body count when we could so easily stop it by leaving????
So why are we talking to the wall & asking each other stupid questions----what we all should be doing is hammering at our Congressmen----with enough people doing just that, the show would be over in a week if enough people "raised hell!!"
I have been...Has everyone on here???? We all need to be!!!!!
Trying to toughen it out to insure a stable government is in power before we leave and the right accuses Obama of dragging his feet on getting us out of this war he didn't start. If he had pulled out immediately they'd accuse him of treason allowing the Taliban to win. Can you imagine the outrage republicans would have spewed at Obama if he had left on day one and the Taliban immediately took over?
Repub or Democrat...Doesn't matter who you vote for...It is called "We the People" for a reason. All the name calling/mud slinging is just childish and reprehensible from both sides... We all need to come together on this issue and get our own affairs in order before our own government buckles. I don't care who's to blame (before during or after) as long as we rectify the situation. Our people are dieing over there, period. Why??? To train them? To set them up financially, so they can just say they need more??? To help set up a government structure that looks like our very own???....
We need to get the hell out of these stone-age countries with their religious fanatics. All of them are not worth the life of one of our soldiers. They will never be our friends nor can they be trusted.
We Americans are really good at complaining to each other-------what we need to do is to complain continuously to our Reps. in Congress and if tghey do nothing then "throw the bums out!!!!"
I am firmly convinced that they keep us quiet by continously talking about 'God' and paying etc. etc.-----send them home to pray----"throw the bums out!!!"
Heaveto; Absolutely right. Check out my post below. sent it to my reps. Cant make em do anything. Neither can you. But for once i think i see a compromise here with the libs and the cons. GET OUT NOW. Now if we email and call. call is better and let them know that we want out. maybe they will get the idea.
the last time i checked i did a little adding and subtracting. couple days ago i figured we would only lose 1,211 more troops by 2014, Well we are now down to 1,209. and i am not being funny. this is not funny. Our guys are dying over there for WHAT? SO COMMON AMERICANS EMAIL CALL YOUR REPS. And hey maybe we can even get the great debate thats obviously going to happen to actually come up with a date we are going to leave.
Our Congress is bought and paid for. They could careless about what the citizens actually think. This War was unpopular since the beginning and it does not appear to be changing. It does not matter who is in the White House or Congress until we get representation by people that have integrity.
Time to start pissing on some more dead taliban corpses.
Actually we should bring back the old English drawn and quartering method of execution but add the final twist of mixing up the parts with pig entrails before dropping the pieces off at the local mosques.
Seriously - we should get the heck out and let these savages kill each other to their hearts content.
None of them are worth the lives of our soldiers.
...and our soldiers get punished for pi----g on dead Taliban....this is soooo fubar! GET OUT NOW!
I believe it's time to pull out all of our troops and "contractors", cut ALL funding to this country that obviously doesn't want us there, and tell Karzai that we will not be back until he takes care of his own nation and stops talking out of both sides of his mouth!
Use the money saved to invest in OUR infrastructure (roads, bridges) and put OUR people to work!
We are all caught up in this "complaining and nothing gets done" game----------in the meantime it costs 80 Billion----(yes, I said Billion) dollars a year to maintain Congress-----and these bastards want to cut our measly amounts we get from Social Security and medicare --------------start cutting back on the 80 Billion it takes to keep Congress as a start!!!!!!!!!!!"
WE Need to get the hell out of that evil country. They hate each other but they all hate Americans. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS. And we need to stop bringing theses people to America which our goverment is providing JOBS,HOUSING For..
U know what???? Whatever. We know what to do, and our Government is not doing shyyyte about it??????? So I say, maybe they are????? Who the heck knows. I just know this is not cool at all. Get the fuuuuggggg out, now their on their own. Thats how it should be. We tried to help out, but it is what it is. They want to stay in the old world, so let them.
The reason the ninnies were mad about peeing on the Koran is that it's meesy when wiping.
I am sure that there are a lot of Christians who wouldn't be particularly happy if Muslims urinated on their "Holy Bible!!"-------------so it is not hard to understand----unless you have difficulty understanding such things!!--------the act in itself is very "juvenile" (Childish)
Nothing like fighting a war against terrorists when the supposedly 'friendly' forces are killing just as many of our precious boys...
Our boys must not trust anyone other than their own... shoot first and true before they do...
Afghanistan is massively corrupt from the top down... our military genius's must issue protection orders for our boys - guns loaded and don't hesitate if you suspect danger...
"Corrupt"--------lets tread very carefully when we call others in other countries, 'corrupt!'-----------we don't have to go much further than Congress to see corruption----why do you think so many "want to join the club???"
You sound like the "British RaJ" when they fought in Afganistan in the 1800's---they force fed pork to the Afgan prisoners----"That is not necessary!!"
We've got the Afghan troops who have displaced loyalties, peppered amongst our troops. One moment a soldier is showing an Afghan how to use a rifle then next he turns it on our soldier and kills him. No, there is nobody "tripping" and accidentally firing. This is a fiasco, a total mess! The only thing left is to pull out, cut our losses, and move on.
Maybe it has something to do with the vast deposits of rare earth minerals that have been discovered in Afghanistan. These minerals are used in electronics such as cell phones, flat screen televisions etc. China has already threatened to cut production of these rare earth minerals by 20 percent. Do you honestly believe that we are still there because we actually care about the Afghan people? We're there because big business tells the government to stay there so that these resources can be plundered.
Here is another question for you---------------if God loves and blesses America, then how come he gave Afganistan all that 'Rare Earth??"--------------makes you think, doesn't it?------who's side is this guy on anyway???
Heaveto: maybe so the afghi people could mine it and fix their infrastructure themselves and quit living in the 8th century and move into the 21st. Just sayin. Course china is chompin at the bit for us to leave. there are ready to mine. I am good with that. Bring our troops home and then watch the fireworks. Chinese are considered infidels too.
Accidentally tripped and shot two US soldiers? May be we can accidentally trip and drop a Nuke on Kandhahar to let them know how painful accidents can be. A bad excuse is better than none! These people are born liars.
Bimbo its in their kornran. They can lie to further the move of islam. And you know what they are either terrorists or they agree with the terrorists. I dont buy that its a few radical muslims crap.
I remember a few things. When the USS Cole was bombed there were pictures of about 200 arabs dancing and laughing and pointing at the Cole. I also remember a small toy that noone paid much attention to. It was accidentally sent to the US and people here do not take lightly of a small plastic world trade center with a plane flying into the side. over there its a kids toy.
Pull our troops out of that rat hole country, Send Obama over there on a one way ticket and if the Taliban continue with their attacks on us, Bomb the hell out of the whole country. and be done with it. Just my opinion!!! Obama can go run their country cause it cant get any worse than it is now so he has nothing to lose. He has already run America into the Ground. So all you Obama supporters, your all a bunch of idiots.