KABUL - The top NATO and US commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen postponed his Thursday trip to Pakistan until a later date as another insider shooting rocked the foreign forces.

Allen was expected to visit Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Thursday to review the implementation of "border coordination" measures between the two countries.

Pakistan's public relations site ISPR said Thursday that Allen had postponed until a later date, but did not say why, nor did it give the new date.

The NATO-led mission faced a fresh blow late Wednesday night with the shooting deaths of three Australian soldiers in Uruzgan province at the hands of an Afghan soldier.

It was the second incident this week after two US soldiers were shot dead in Laghman province on Monday, and brings to 15 the number killed in such attacks in August.

Allen has said that the insider shootings will not change the course of the NATO mission or the withdrawal plans, but the pressure is mounting for more to be done to prevent similar incidents.
The security transition period from foreign to Afghan control is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. (Tolo News)