Afghan Ambassador to Canada and former head of Afghanistan Social Outreach Program (ASOP) Barna Karimi has said ASOP's phase out led to the rise of so-called green-on-blue attacks in which alleged members of Afghan National Security Forces open fire on ISAF troops.
At least 42 NATO soldiers have been killed in green-on-blue attacks so far this year. The former head of ASOP in an interview to a Canadian newspaper has also claimed he warned Afghan and ISAF officials about possible increase in coalition casualties due to ASOP's discontinuation.
ASOP was a program funded by USAID in eastern provinces and Kunduz. It was closed in January 2012. Implemented in partnership with Independent Directorate of Local government, the program supported establishment of informal community shuras consisting of local elders.
The shuras were used for community engagement in small-scale development projects and improving governance reach out. These informal councils of local elders were also used as a platform of engagement between district officials and locals on security issues.
Barna Karimi says infiltration of Taliban militants in security forces is causing the problem of "insider attacks". The local shuras established under ASOP were also working as facilitators for Police recruitment by ensuring induction of 'right people' in Police. Recruits were introduced by the tribal elders from shuras to make sure they do not have links with insurgents.
The former head of ASOP's claim is apparently a new insight about this grave issue at a time when there is no solid investigation about factors behind the increasing green-on-blue attacks. However, there needs to be a thorough investigation about the trend, which is now a threat from within. ISAF has started calling it 'insider attacks' which they described 'isolated incidents' previously.
Karimi's claim do not have substantial weight due to the fact that ASOP was implemented in eastern provinces and Kunduz, while the higher occurrence of green-on-blue attacks have been reported in southern provinces.
But it is now an established fact that the fault line of the issue is an erroneous recruitment process without proper screening.
The strict process has been compromised to meet the numbers of ANSF recruitment target, which was accelerated in the rush of NATO withdrawal strategy.
Karimi's claims need to be investigated in a thorough study of all green-on-blue incidents to check of ASOP's closure or discontinuation of the recruitment facilitation by local tribal councils have been a reason behind the 'insider attacks'.