Experts: Afghan insider attacks strain U.S. mission

While authorities in Afghanistan investigate whether last weekend’s firefight that killed two Americans and three Afghan soldiers was another insider attack, observers fear the threat of Afghans turning their guns on their allies may have already become ingrained in the minds of coalition soldiers.

“The fact of the matter is people are now worrying what’s happening behind our back, not what’s happening in front of them, especially when we transition to a train-and-assist mission,” said Michael Ruben, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington who trains troops deploying to Afghanistan. “This is pretty much 95 percent of what soldiers worry about now.”

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said Saturday’s attack at a checkpoint near an Afghan National Army unit in Wardak province possibly involved gunfire from insurgents but was initially suspected as an insider attack, 보령출장마사지 also known as “green-on-blue” incidents.

Gunfire broke out “after a short conversation” between personnel from the two forces, according to an ISAF statement. But there appear to be conflicting reports between Western and Afghan officials. A provincial spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told The Associated Press that an American unit believed it was being attacked by a nearby Afghan checkpoint and returned fire, which led to the Afghans firing back at the U.S.

NATO and the Afghan army are investigating the incident.

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