The increasing green-on-blue attacks becoming a trend must be a serious matter to worry our political leadership. American military commanders are now openly expressing concerns in public statements and ISAF has started calling it ‘insider attacks’.
Almost 10 percent of NATO deaths this year in Afghanistan have been caused by attacks from members of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) resulting in 39 coalition casualties that include 23 Americans. The US Chairman of Joint Chiefs Dempsey and CENTCOM Commander Gen. Mattis came to Kabul on Monday August 27, 2012 to discuss the issue.
The Karzai Administration has come up with a new story. They say intelligence services of neighboring countries—read Pakistan and Iran—are the culprits sending infiltrators in ANSF, an accusation based on interrogation of surviving insider attackers. ISAF assessment is that 1% of attacks are linked to genuine infiltration by Taliban militants in ANSF or security members won over by them. They say 90% of attacks are caused by direct “disputes, stress or cultural clashes” between the green and blue. But the question is, why a sudden rise in such attacks in 2011-12?
One explanation could be that the killings are motivated by outrage in reaction to the Holy Quran burning and Marine urination incidents. But the fault line is the exit-strategy rush with a rapid-recruitment task to reach the targeted 350,000 numbers of ANSF before NATO withdrawal.
The proper recruitment requirements and screening for ANSF have been compromised to make the quantity, not only resulting in quality deficit, but cracks such as insurgent and intelligence infiltration. Given the low recruitment percentage from insurgency-hit areas, the procedure should not be relaxed and the proper screening should be carried out.
Watching Taliban videos of interviews with members of ANA and ANP who have defected to them makes one wonder how easily they have switched sides without any understandable threat. It can only happen when a shepherd vulnerable to provocative religious insurgent propaganda goes through few months of training and then sent on front lines under commanding superiors coming through the same rapid-production process.
After a previous investigation found most of those involved in green-on-blue had family ties in Pakistan, the Defense Ministry designed a plan to ask all members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) whose families live in Pakistan, to bring them to Afghanistan or quit military. But the policy was abandoned with concerns of large desertions.
The number of green-on-green attacks is far higher than that of green-on-blue. It is a threat from within and the Government must devise a strategy. President Karzai should order establishment of a special military and intelligence commission to probe the trend of genuine insider attacks in which members of ANSF happen to turn their guns on their ISAF mentors. Temporary steps in response to international pressure will not help. The Police Chief of Spin Boldak District of Kandahar has been fired after one of his men killed an American soldier at the Police Headquarters last week.
There have been such attacks in the heart of Kabul. A couple of months ago a police intelligence officer killed two American advisors at the Interior Ministry in March. He could easily escape the building without anyone attempting to arrest him.
ISAF used to describe green-on-blue attacks as isolated incidents while Afghan officials have different versions of stories. But now it is becoming a disastrous trend that could undermine the transition process and overall ISAF-ANSF cooperation and trainings. Coalition troops are now armed 24-hours inside their camps, a step taken in the wake of increasing insider attacks.
Our political leadership should review their domestic language when it comes to presence or operations of ISAF troops. It seems that the ISAF night raids and home-searches are not the probable reasons behind these events.