NATO struggling to control threat from insiders in Afghanistan

NATO struggling to control threat from insiders in Afghanistan 

 Nato commanders are struggling to contain the damage from a spike in “fratricidal” attacks by Afghan forces, seeking to protect their troops without rupturing a frayed partnership with Kabul.

With Afghan soldiers opening fire on their NATO comrades with alarming frequency, US defense officials on Thursday confirmed that Nato troops had been ordered to adopt strict new security precautions to counter the insidious threat.

The stepped up security underlines the dilemma facing the American-led force that has portrayed its alliance with Afghan troops as a cornerstone of the war effort.

“The danger with these things is the degree to which they undermine trust between the two countries,” said Carter Malkasian, who worked as a civilian adviser alongside American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“It kind of creates a spiral. Some of our members are killed, some of our advisers are killed. And in turn we take efforts to protect ourselves and distance ourselves.”

“But by distancing ourselves, the Afghans start to distrust us more because they can sense that we don’t trust them,” he said.

With 17 coalition troops killed in insider attacks so far this year, US officers acknowledge the so-called green-on-blue attacks require weighing security concerns with the need to cultivate ties with Afghan security forces.

“It’s a delicate balance that has to be constantly tweaked. You can’t throttle forward or back too much,” military spokesman Captain John Kirby told AFP. “We have to be out and about with Afghans.”

Reflecting a growing threat, the commander of Nato and US troops, General John Allen, issued orders in recent weeks calling for some advisers to carry weapons and for Nato units to designate one team member as a “guardian angel,” who remains armed and on
alert for possible fratricidal attacks, officials said.

For coalition troops working at Afghan government or military buildings, the orders require them to move desks to make sure their backs are not turned to the door.

After two US advisers were gunned down last month inside the Afghan interior ministry, Nato officers were withdrawn from government ministries.

Most of the advisers have yet to return to the ministry buildings and now carry out their work by email and phone.

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Posted by Ammar Ahmad on Mar 31 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry