News on Afghanistan - Page 35

Billo_Really · #**341** (**permalink**) 03-26-2011, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlurp

I think Billo can run this site from now on. It is yours Billo have fun.

I have no interest in thread takeovers.

BodiSatva · #**342** (**permalink**) 03-27-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billo_Really

I have no interest in thread takeovers.

I do... as long as I get to talk about me.

mlurp · #**343** (**permalink**) 03-28-2011, 05:18 PM

This enemy is in a way like the Japanese in that they were H __ bent on winning or die trying to the last man, yet this is where it becomes very dangerous.
The insurgents mostly foreigner's have little difficultly with recruiting. And the number given is around 25,000 and they are against 300,000 give or take. 11 years

The one thing I hold against former President Bush, is when he drew down troops in Afghan to Iraq. This could have been over long ago. Yet it is like the Nam again, no matter our leaders saying different.

Quote:

Taliban truck explosion kills 23 in Afghanistan

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press – Mon Mar 28, 9:01 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – A team of suicide bombers shot their way into the compound of a road construction company in eastern Afghanistan and detonated a truck loaded with explosives, killing 23 people and wounding about 60, the Afghan government said Monday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Interior Ministry said occurred late Sunday in the Barmal district of Paktika province.

The ministry said three attackers went up to the gate of the Zahir construction company, shot the guard, and then drove a large truck that was full of explosives into the compound where they detonated it.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement Monday that the Taliban were responsible for the suicide attack that targeted a joint Afghan-NATO operating base.

Mokhlis Afghan, spokesman for provincial Governor Mohibullah Samim, said all the dead and wounded were laborers and there were no Afghan or foreign forces at the site. He added that the explosion was so powerful that little remained of the truck.

The area is located on the border with Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, which serve as safe havens for insurgents that infiltrate into Afghanistan across the rugged and mountainous frontier.

The region has seen an escalation in violence over the past few months. In northeastern Kunar province, Governor Sayed Fazeullah Wahidi said elders in Chapa Dara district were negotiating for the release of about 50 police officers and recruits abducted by the Taliban one day before. The men, who were unarmed, were in four trucks when they were stopped by a group of insurgents.

A NATO spokesman said the attack against the construction company was "horrific," and an indication insurgents have turned to civilian targets because it's getting more difficult to attack the Afghan army and U.S.-led coalition forces. He said civilians and public services, such as cellular telephone networks, were being increasingly targeted.

"They have turned to soft targets and turned to attacks against basic services," said the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz.

After recent attacks on cellular phone towers across southwest Afghanistan, private companies have been forced to turn off networks in some areas. Telecommunications Services Board of Afghanistan, a regulatory agency, said more than 800,000 cellular phone users in southwest Helmand province and another 100,000 in surrounding areas have been affected.

Insurgents have also blown up eight cellular phone towers in the provinces of Helmand, Wardak, Ghazni, and Farah, said agency spokesman and member Khair Mohammad Faizi.

Helmand's provincial council said services had been down for a week and demanded they be restored as 90 percent of Helmand's residents use cell phones.

Blotz said that "blowing up cell phone towers or restricting the use of cell phone towers is an example of a completely derailed intimidation campaign to deny a basic service."

Insurgent activity is expected to intensify in Helmand and other provinces as the spring fighting season gets under way. Many insurgents have been spending the winter in neighboring Pakistan or preparing for the spring poppy harvest, a major source of funding for the Taliban. Helmand is a major gateway for drugs, insurgents and guns. Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province have been the focus of a major NATO campaign which has had some success in holding and pushing back the insurgents.

Blotz said there was a recent operation against insurgents along Helmand's border with Pakistan to "curtail the flow of narcotics, weapons and fighters in and out of southern Afghanistan."

He said operations would intensify with the spring fighting season.

NATO and U.S. military officials expect a spike in bloodshed in the coming months as insurgents try to regain losses and an increase in suicide attacks and assassination attempts against Afghan officials.

Suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices killed at least 1,141 Afghan civilians in the conflict in 2010, according to the United Nations. A U.N. report in early said there were an average of 2.8 suicide attacks a week.

___

Amir Shah and Patrick Quinn contributed to this report from Kabul.

Taliban truck explosion kills 23 in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

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mlurp · #**344** (**permalink**) 04-02-2011, 02:35 PM

What to think? Maybe sending the Florida church members to the front lines so they can see and feel the results (blow back) of their stupidity caused by their actions would help.

Just like so many other things that have gone haywire here, this church needs a closer look at what it stands for. People died because of them. While they preach Jesus, is love & burn another Religions Holy Book..

Quote:

Anger over Quran burning spreads in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press – 1 hr 23 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.

The church's desecration of the Quran nearly two weeks ago has outraged millions of Muslims and others worldwide, fueling anti-American sentiment that is further straining ties between the Afghan government and the West.

The uproar even brought violence to the normally peaceful northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday, when a crowd of protesters — apparently infiltrated by insurgents — stormed a U.N. compound in an outpouring that left four Afghan protesters and seven foreign U.N. employees dead.

The top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, said the organization had no plans to evacuate. It would, however, temporarily redeploy 11 staff members from Maraz-i-Sharif to Kabul

"This is not an evacuation, it is a temporary redeployment because the office is not functioning. We will be ready to go back as soon as we can establish an office that is secure enough," he told reporters.

In an unrelated attack that nonetheless demonstrated the kind of violence plaguing Afghanistan nearly a decade after the U.S. invaded to oust the Taliban and hunt al-Qaida, two suicide attackers disguised as women in blue burqas blew themselves up and a third was gunned down at a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul, police said.

The Quran was burned March 20, but many Afghans only found out about it when Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the desecration four days later. The burning took place at the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, the same church where the Rev. Terry Jones had threatened to destroy a copy of the holy book last year but initially backed down.

On Saturday, thousands of Afghans carrying long sticks and holding copies of the Quran over their heads marched through Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the cradle of the insurgency. The crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the city, which was blanketed by thick black smoke.

Security forces shot in the air to disperse the crowd, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It's unclear how the protesters were slain, he said.

The governor's office in Kandahar province issued a statement saying that nine protesters were killed and 81 others were injured in the demonstration that turned into a riot. Seventeen people, including seven armed men, have been arrested, the statement said.

The governor's office claims demonstrators were incited by extremists who joined the group and set property ablaze.

"The enemies of the people and country also burned down the furniture and a bus at a ladies' high school in Kandahar and destroyed some other properties," the governor's office said.

Shops and restaurants throughout the city were shuttered and routes leading into the city were blocked by security forces.

An Associated Press photographer estimated the crowd at a few thousand and said demonstrators had smashed his camera and roughed up other journalists.

Karzai's office said the president spoke on the telephone Saturday morning with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Karzai asked the secretary-general to extend his condolences to the families of the U.N. workers slain Friday.

Though he spoke out about the burning, knowing it would affect his people. Yet it would have gotten out anyway sooner or later.

He also called on the U.N. to help promote religious tolerance throughout the world to ease friction between people of different faiths. Karzai said Afghan officials were investigating the U.N. attack and would bring the perpetrators to justice.

De Mistura said four Nepalese guards were killed protecting the U.N. staff and did not fire their guns.
................................................. Continued ............................................

Anger over Quran burning spreads in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

139,305 Comments a& other video's.

mlurp · #**345** (**permalink**) 04-04-2011, 02:53 PM

Another one dealing with the danger of even training these want to be soldiers.
Just what will it take for America to wake up to the truth, it is getting more dangerous in every part of operations...

My prayers to these barve soldiers and the two families who lose their family members.

Quote:

Shooter in Afghan uniform kills 2 US personnel

By HEIDI VOGT and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press – 2 hrs 26 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – A man wearing an Afghan border police uniform shot dead two American military personnel tasked with helping train members of the country's security forces on Monday, NATO and Afghan officials said.

The assailant fled and it was not known whether he was a police officer who turned on his Western counterparts or an insurgent disguising himself in uniform to infiltrate the northern compound and attack from inside. There have been cases of both in Afghanistan, exposing the vulnerability even of foreign trainers involved in preparing Afghan forces to take the lead in battling the Taliban.

Afghanistan's security forces, meanwhile, were struggling to contain days of protests set off by the burning of a Quran at a small Florida church two weeks ago. The desecration of Islam's holy book has inflamed anti-foreigner sentiment already at high levels because of civilian causalities. On Monday, rock-throwing crowds hundreds deep clashed with Afghan police in several places in the east.

NATO said the assailant in Monday's attack wore an Afghan border police uniform and shot the two service members inside a compound in northern Faryab province before escaping. The international military alliance did not provide further details.

President Hamid Karzai's office condemned the attack and said the dead were American trainers. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the attack occurred in the provincial capital, Maymana.

Attacks by Afghan police and soldiers appear to have increased over the past 12 months as NATO and Afghan forces work more closely together.

In the last such attack in January, an Afghan soldier approached two Italian soldiers cleaning their weapons and shot them dead before escaping from the base. One of the deadliest such shootings occurred in November when an Afghan border police officer opened fire on NATO troops during a training mission in eastern Nangarhar province, killing six NATO service members before he was shot dead.

Monday's protests over the March 20 Quran burning in Florida took place in the neighboring eastern provinces of Laghman and Nangarhar. Both ended without major injuries being reported.
.............................................. Continued ...............................................

Shooter in Afghan uniform kills 2 US personnel - Yahoo! News

Many of the 160,809 Comments should be read.

mlurp · #**346** (**permalink**) 04-16-2011, 02:17 PM

Not a good day as one Afghan soldier killed 10..

Quote:

NATO: Bomb kills 10 in Afghanistan

By SOLOMON MOORE, Associated Press – 1 hr 43 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan — Like hundreds of thousands of Afghan men, he volunteered in the national army, ran drills in the mud, carried an automatic rifle, and worked alongside coalition mentors struggling against a hardcore insurgency.

But he was not one of them.

On Saturday, he walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in the eastern province of Laghman and detonated a vest of explosives hidden underneath his uniform, killing 10.

Five NATO troopers, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter were killed in the deadliest sleeper agent assault since November, when an Afghan border policeman shot six U.S. soldiers to death at a base in the eastern province of Faryab.

Four Afghan soldiers and three interpreters were wounded in Saturday's attack.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing and said the soldier was a sleeper agent who joined the army a month ago_a contention confirmed by an Afghan army official.

"Today, when there was a meeting going on between Afghan and foreign soldiers, he used the opportunity to carry out the attack," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an email to reporters.

Attacks by insurgents donning security uniforms are a relatively rare, but recurrent problem as NATO and Afghan forces work more closely together. Afghanistan's security forces are also ramping up recruitment of Afghan soldiers and policemen so they can take the lead in securing their nation by the end of 2014 — adding more than 70,000 police and soldiers last year in an effort to reach a goal of 305,000 troopers by the end of this year.

Afghan security forces are supposed to be vetted by past employers or even village elders, but in a country where unemployment is about 35 percent, the literacy rate is about 28 percent, and computerized record-keeping is a novelty, background checks are often rudimentary.

The explosion took place at 7:30 a.m., as many people on the base were beginning the morning shift and as NATO and Afghan service members conducted what military officials call a "key leader engagement" meeting according to a NATO spokesman.

Following the explosion, Blackhawk helicopters swooped down to carry the dead and wounded to hospitals.

The bodies of four Afghan soldiers brought to a hospital in Jalalabad were too badly damaged to determine their military rank, said Baz Mohammad Sherzad, the health director in nearby Nangarhar province.

NATO declined to provide further identifying information about its soldiers killed in the blast pending notification of their next of kin.

................................................ Continued .............................................

NATO: Bomb kills 10 in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

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mlurp · #**347** (**permalink**) 04-18-2011, 04:04 PM

A lot of video's on Afghan.. Why the hell are we still there? We can't rebuild the country. Nor would I want us to. We need to rebuild America.

I support our best, the troops. And our military leaders for looking out for them.
Otherwise we might have another Wall in DC with many names on it. But after 10 years why any longer? That is just IMHO.

Quote:

Taliban militant kills 2 inside Defense Ministry

By HEIDI VOGT and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press – Mon Apr 18, 1:40 pm ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – A Taliban militant opened fire inside the Afghan Defense Ministry on Monday, killing two Afghan soldiers in the latest daring attack inside a government or military installation.

The Taliban said one of their agents who was also an army officer planned the attack to coincide with a visit of the French defense minister. French officials said the minister, Gerard Longuet, was not in the ministry at the time.

Despite the Taliban claim, Afghan military officials said it was not immediately clear whether the assailant — who was wearing a vest rigged with explosives — was an enlisted soldier or an insurgent disguised in a military uniform. The vest did not explode.

The assaults over the past four days — first inside a police headquarters, then a base shared with American troops and now the heart of the Afghan military establishment — signal the start of the Taliban's spring offensive after a relative lull over the frigid Afghan winter.

Afghanistan's war usually follows an annual cycle, with fighting increasing in the spring and summer as insurgents pour over the mountainous border from Pakistan. But the recent security breaches suggests that the Taliban are getting better at striking at the core of the Afghan security forces.

The ferocity of the Taliban's spring offensive will help determine whether the surge of more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops that President Barack Obama announced in December 2009 succeeded in arresting the insurgency.

The string of attacks since Friday shows that while the insurgents have suffered setbacks in their southern strongholds, they still have a slate of militants willing to take on deadly missions.

The assaults also demonstrate the geographical reach of the insurgency beyond the south. The most recent attacks were in Kabul and eastern Laghman province, while a deadly attack against the United Nations earlier this month happened in the previously peaceful northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

............................................... Continued ..............................................

Taliban militant kills 2 inside Defense Ministry - Yahoo! News

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mlurp · #**348** (**permalink**) 04-23-2011, 12:28 PM

This is getting old, I would love to know just why the US has allowed this to continue?
By now we have killed many more than died in the 9/11 attack. I would like to know the reasoning to continue?

Quote:

Afghan insurgents shoot down NATO chopper; 1 dead

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press – 52 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – Insurgents shot down a NATO helicopter Saturday in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan where fighting has intensified, and one foreign service member was killed, the alliance said.

The U.S.-led military coalition said the death of the service member was related to the chopper crash in Alasay district of Kapisa province, but that the dead trooper was not aboard the aircraft. The only two crew members were recovered alive, it said.

No further details have been disclosed about the crash, which is under investigation.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a telephone call that Taliban insurgents shot down the helicopter with a rocket. He said other coalition helicopters later flew to the crash site and fired weapons to destroy the wreckage.

Aziz Rahman Tawab, acting provincial governor in Kapisa province, said the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain.

Aircraft are used extensively in Afghanistan by both NATO and Afghan government forces to transport and supply troops because the terrain is mountainous and roads are few and primitive. In September, a helicopter crash in a rugged area of Zabul province in southern Afghanistan killed nine American troops.

Fighting has escalated in the east as Afghan and coalition forces step up their attacks on insurgents along the Pakistani border and militants retaliate with attacks on pro-government forces and Afghan officials.

Afghan forces killed eight insurgents in a gunbattle Friday in the Pech Valley area of eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, the Afghan Defense Ministry said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said militants ambushed an Afghan police vehicle on Saturday, killing two policemen and wounding two others in Dara Nur district of Nangarhar province.

Also in the east, a suicide attacker on foot detonated a vest packed with explosives Friday afternoon at the entrance to a building used by education officials in Jayi Maydan district of Khost province, said Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, the provincial police chief. The bomber died in the attack and four people were wounded, including the district education director and a principal, he said.

In the south, the governor's office also reported Saturday that the Afghan National Police arrested six armed insurgents the day before, including three wearing police uniforms, driving a police vehicle in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand.

To counter possible infiltration into the security forces, the U.S.-led coalition — at the Afghan government's request — has trained 220 Afghan soldiers to spot possible Taliban infiltrators, disgruntled soldiers within the ranks and other conditions that could make the force vulnerable to attack, according to the coalition.

The plan is to have 445 soldiers trained in counterintelligence by the end of the year.

Since March 2009, the coalition has recorded 20 incidents where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing one of their uniforms killed coalition forces. Thirty-six coalition troops have died. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces were killed.

The coalition says 10 of the 20 incidents involved the impersonation of an Afghan policeman or soldier; the causes of the other 10 incidents were attributed to combat stress or unknown reasons.

Then why haven't our troops done the same thing?

Afghan insurgents shoot down NATO chopper; 1 dead - Yahoo! News

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mlurp · #**349** (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 02:52 PM

This is the second large escape from the same prison

2 video's on the upper left that add insight into this and 1 that shows how much the poppy has made some druggies.

Quote:

Taliban tunnel more than 480 out of Afghan prison

By MIRWAIS KHAN and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press – 5 mins ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – During the long Afghan winter, Taliban insurgents were apparently busy underground.

The militants say they spent more than five months building a 1,050-foot tunnel to the main prison in southern Afghanistan, bypassing government checkpoints, watch towers and concrete barriers topped with razor wire.

The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban militants.

Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both.

Following a recent wave of assassinations here, the breakout underscores the weakness of the Afghan government in the south despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. It also highlights the spirit and resourcefulness of the Taliban despite months of battlefield setbacks.

Officials at Sarposa prison in Kandahar city, the one-time Taliban capital, say they discovered the breach at about 4 a.m. Monday, a half-hour after the Taliban say they had gotten all the prisoners safely to a house at the other end of the tunnel.

Government officials corroborated parts of the Taliban account. They confirmed the tunnel was dug from a house within shooting distance of the prison and that the inmates had somehow gotten out of their locked cells and disappeared into the night. Kandahar remains relatively warm even during winter and the ground would not have frozen while insurgents were digging the tunnel.

Police showed reporters the roughly hewn hole that was punched through the cement floor of the prison cell. The opening was about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, and the tunnel dropped straight down for about 5 feet (1.5 meters) and then turned in the direction of the house where it originated.

But access was denied to the tunnel itself, and it was unclear how the Taliban were able to move so many men out of the prison so quickly. Also unclear was why guards would not have heard the diggers punch through the cement floor, and whether they supervise the inside of the perimeters at night.

A man who claimed he helped organize those inside the prison told The Associated Press in a phone call that he and his accomplices obtained copies of the keys for the cells ahead of time from "friends." He did not say who those friends were.

.......Click image to see photos of the prison break in Afghanistan........

.................................................. .. Continued .........................................

Taliban tunnel more than 480 out of Afghan prison - Yahoo! News

Related
Afghan Prison Break: Will It Hurt U.S. Strategy? Time.com

Based on the last time where 900 escaped I doubt it. More like it shows how wasteful our being there is.

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mlurp · #**350** (**permalink**) 04-27-2011, 01:22 PM

... 9 more Americans killed over some disagreement. Heck this is the first I knew the Afghans had an Airforce. And to find out this way isn't

Quote:

By RAHIM FAIEZ and LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press – 2 hrs 40 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – Eight American troops and a U.S. contractor died Wednesday after an Afghan military pilot opened fire during a meeting at Kabul airport — the deadliest episode to date of an Afghan turning against his coalition partners, officials said.

The Afghan officer, who was a veteran military pilot, fired on the Americans after an argument, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.

All nine killed were American, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been made public.

The shooting occurred in an operations room of the Afghan Air Corps at Kabul airport.

"Suddenly, in the middle of the meeting, shooting started," said Afghan Air Corps spokesman Col. Bahader, who uses only one name. "After the shooting started, we saw a number of Afghan army officers and soldiers running out of the building. Some were even throwing themselves out of the windows to get away."

Five Afghan soldiers were injured. At least one Afghan soldier was shot — in the wrist — but most of the soldiers suffered broken bones and cuts, Bahader said.

An Afghan pilot who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified the gunman as Ahmad Gul from Tarakhail district of Kabul province.

Dr. Mohammad Hassan Sahibi, the brother of the shooter, who was killed in the incident, had been battling financial troubles. Sahibi said his brother had no ties to insurgents.

"He was 48 years old," Sahibi told Tolo, a private television station in Kabul, "He served his country for years. He loved his people and his country. He had no link with Taliban or al-Qaida.

"He was under economic pressures and recently he sold his house. He was going through a very difficult period of time in his life."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the shooting and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims. He said those killed were trainers and advisers for the Afghan air force. The president ordered his defense and security officials to investigate the recent incidents to determine why they occurred.

It was the seventh time so far this year that members of the Afghan security forces, or insurgents impersonating them, have killed coalition soldiers or members of the Afghan security forces.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the gunman was impersonating an army officer and that others at the facility helped him gain access.

However, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the gunman was an Afghan military pilot of 20 years.

"An argument happened between him and the foreigners and we have to investigate that," Azimi said.

Taliban insurgents have stepped up their attacks on government and military installations across Afghanistan.

_On April 18, an insurgent managed to sneak past security at the heavily fortified Afghan Defense Ministry compound in the capital and killed two Afghan soldiers and an officer.

_Two days before that, an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan and detonated a vest of explosives hidden underneath his uniform. The blast, the worst before Wednesday's shooting, killed six American troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.

_On April, 15, a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters complex, killing the top law enforcement officer in the restive southern province.

_In northwest Afghanistan, a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform shot and killed two American military personnel on April 4 in Faryab. The gunman was upset over the recent burning of the Quran at a Florida church, according to NATO intelligence officials.

_In February, an Afghan soldier, who felt he had been personally offended by his German partners, shot and killed three German soldiers and wounded six others in the northern province of Baghlan.

_In January, an Afghan solider killed an Italian soldier and wounded another in Badghis province. The two soldiers were cleaning their weapons at a combat outpost when an Afghan soldier approached them with an M16 rifle and asked to use their equipment to clean his gun. The Italians saw that the Afghan soldier's rifle was loaded and asked him to unload it, at which point the Afghan soldier shot the two Italians and escaped from the base.

Before the airport shooting, the coalition had recorded 20 incidents since March 2009 where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them attacked coalition forces, killing a total of 36. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in these type of incidents.

According to information compiled by NATO, half of the 20 incidents involved the impersonation of an Afghan policeman or soldier. The cause of the other 10 incidents were attributed to combat stress or unknown reasons. NATO said that so far, there is no solid evidence — despite Taliban assertions — that any insurgent has joined the Afghan security forces for the sole purpose of conducting attacks on coalition or Afghan forces.

___

Baldor reported from Washington.

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169,770 Comments

I say with drawl now and let them settle this alone.

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