On Saturday, June 8, two US soldiers and an American civilian were killed in what is doubted to have been an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan. A man wearing Afghan army uniform opened fire on them in Paktika province, close to the border with Pakistan. In the same kind of attacks, last year, nearly 60 foreign military and civilians lost their lives. Killing of ISAF troops and mentors and foreign advisers is generally termed green on blue or insider attack. Recent killing of two US soldiers and one civilian takes place despite strict measures taken by NATO and ANSF authorities to counter/prevent such incidents.

Insider attacks, that have been a matter of great concern for Western authorities, have also impacted the trust between Afghan and international troops and implementation of crucial training programs for ANSF.The attacks are launched by alleged rogue members of ANSF. Also insurgents disguised as Afghan soldiers or police become successful to reach foreign soldiers and open fire at them.

The trend can be counted as one of the deadliest tactics of insurgents after IED attacks. With such attacks they are putting effort for straining the trust and confidence between Afghan and NATO troops and harming the crucial training programs aimed at boosting the capabilities of ANSF.

Taliban claim to have infiltrated the ANSF and it would be a difficult task to identify their sympathizers. Victims of insider attacks have not been only the foreigners but also Afghan security forces. There have been a number of incidents where a rogue Afghan police has slaughtered his fellows and then has fled to join Taliban.

The US-led forces are in the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan. Once majority of them are out of Afghanistan, the focus of Taliban might turn towards weakening the Afghan security forces through various tactics, one of which could be the insider attacks. Taliban sympathizers hidden in ANSF may turn towards killing Afghan soldiers or police and that will be catastrophic for Afghanistan.

Although measures taken by the NATO and ANSF authorities to prevent insider and green on blue attacks have had positive results, it does not mean the end of the trend. Additionally, safety measures related more to foreign military and civilian personnel meaning that ANSF continue to remain at great risk of insider attacks.