Monday 20 August 2012

Green-on-Blue attacks

This refers to the attacks by Afghan security forces on the US and other International Security forces stationed in Afghanistan. The numbers of such attacks and the fatalities on the international forces is causing concern among all parties. 30 incidents this yr (till August) with 45 coalition troops killed.

Green= Afghan forces
Blue= International forces

The NATO has recently (Aug 2012) issued guidelines for safety wrt such attacks:
  • US and NATO service members shoudl always carry a loaded guns
  • 'Guardian Angel' programme, wherein one or two soldiers will monitor Afghans during every mission or meeting.
  • In August 2012, the US Special Forces have suspended training for about 1000 Afghan police recruits to vet the existing members. This is in light of Taliban claiming responsibility for many of these attacks, saying that  their fighters have infiltrated the Afghan army and police, but NATO says majority of the incidents are due to cultural differences and personal animosities.
However these measures themselves risk alienating the Afghans further and a fine balance must be struck between maintaining security and building trust.

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