The attack, coming after a similar shooting less than a month ago, sabotaged confidence here in the training and transition effort that has become the top focus of U.S. and allied troops.
“We are friends of the Afghan people, allies of the Afghan people,” said a visibly upset Sarkozy. “But I cannot accept that Afghan soldiers fire on French soldiers.”
A precipitous pullout by any of the major members of the U.S.-led coalition would undermine the withdrawal plan NATO agreed to in November 2010 and increase domestic pressure on President Obama to speed the drawdown of U.S. troops.
International concern over the Afghan mission has grown amid repeated instances in which Afghan troops — infiltrated Taliban extremists or individuals with a score to settle — have shot weapons or exploded bombs in attacks designed to kill and wound NATO forces. A report commissioned by the U.S. military said at least 58 Western military personnel were killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers or police between May 2007 and May 2011, when the report was finished.
“Such fratricide is fast leading to a crisis of trust between the two forces, if it hasn’t reached this point already,” the report concluded. Its author, Jeffrey Bordin, wrote that the attacks “do not represent ‘rare and isolated events’ as currently being proclaimed.”
Bordin’s study suggested that personal clashes and insurgent infiltration threaten one of the conflict’s most important relationships — that between Western troops and the Afghans, who in two years will take over combat operations as well as the war’s sprawling architecture.
The report mentions Afghan complaints about bullying, arrogance and an unwillingness to listen as creating dangerous animosity between the forces. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the study’s findings in June.
Military officials acknowledge that the relationship between NATO and Afghan forces varies across provinces and units, and they have suggested that attempts to characterize the overall relationship as troubled or tense are reductive and inaccurate. Officials say the study is not indicative of a widespread threat to the war effort.
But as attacks against foreign trainers have increased, the United States has committed to training a force of Afghan counterintelligence agents to keep insurgents out of the military and police.
Amid concerns by some in NATO that members would begin to make plans to leave Afghanistan, the alliance agreed at its last summit, 14 months ago in Lisbon, to gradually withdraw coalition combat troops by the end of 2014. The date certain — four years away when it was set — was designed to head off domestic pressure across Europe for ending involvement in the coalition.
Loading...
Comments