Afghan Soldier Attacks Against Foreign Troops Increased
by Increased attacks by Afghan soldiers against U.S. and NATO forces in that country is a systematic problem and does not occur in a particular incident, according to a confidential report quoted coalition The New York Times, Friday.
The report stresses that the killings that occurred as a result of mutual contempt between the two parties for a decade and a deep resentment among both civilian and military, AFP reported. In the latest incident, four French soldiers were killed and about 15 people were injured Friday when a dissident Afghan soldier opened fire on them at a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Between May 2007 and May 2011, at least 58 U.S. and NATO personnel have been killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers and police, said the report was 70 pages thick, as reported by The Times.
These incidents include events in April 2011 as a colonel in Afghanistan killing eight soldiers and a U.S. contractor with their head shot at the army headquarters.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition forces in Kabul said the attacks by Afghan soldiers is a separate incident, and he did not want to comment on the report.
Confidential report that downplayed the role of the Taliban infiltrators in the incidents.
In October, the Taliban promised to fight until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan.
President Hamid Karzai and its Western backers have agreed that all foreign troops would return to their country at the end of 2014, but the West promised to provide ongoing support after that time in the form of funding and training for Afghan security forces.
Insurgents stepped up attacks on security forces and also the killing of politicians, including the killing Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai in Kandahar in July and peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul in September.
Escalating conflict in Afghanistan by the number of civilian and military deaths reached its highest level last year when the violence that inflamed the Taliban extends from traditional areas in the south and east to areas west and north of the old stable.
A total of 711 foreign soldiers have been killed in the war in Afghanistan over the past year, making 2010 the deadliest year for foreign troops, according to an AFP tally based on independent website icasualties.org.
The number of civilian deaths also increased, and the Afghan Interior Ministry announced that 2043 civilians were killed in 2010 due to Taliban attacks and military operations aimed at militants.
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan since 1996, fomenting rebellion since ousted from power in that country by US-led invasion in 2001 for refusing to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, accused of responsibility for the attack on American soil that killed about 3,000 people in 11 September 2001.
About 130,000 personnel International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which comes from dozens of countries are in Afghanistan to help the Kabul government and its allies fight the Taliban insurgency.
Around 521 foreign soldiers have been killed during 2009, which made that year as the year deadliest for international troops since the US-led invasion in 2001 and made the Western public support against the war drops.
Taliban militants rely heavily on the use of roadside bombs and suicide attacks against Afghan government and foreign troops stationed in the country.
Homemade bombs known as IEDs (improvised explosive device) resulted in 70-80 percent of foreign troop casualties in Afghanistan, according to the military.
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