So far this year, more than 50 members of the NATO forces in Afghanistan have been killed in insider attacks -- the so-called "green on blue" killings. Some say the perps are Taliban disguised as Afghan troops and police. Others say the snipers and suicide bombers really are Afghans, pissed off at being dissed (and occasionally killed, by accident of course) by Americans and other infidels.
Whatever the motive, and whoever's doing it, this business of Afghan police or soldiers turning their weapons on their Western "mentors" has just naturally got to stop! But how? Maybe refusing to go out on missions with them would be a smart move. That, at least, is the theory behind today's order indefinitely suspending most "mentoring operations".
Effective immediately, all front-line missions involving units smaller than an 800-strong battalion will stay behind the barbed wire, leaving the Afghans to go out and shoot each other without the benefit of Western advice. However, a senior NATO spokesman, US Colonel Tom Collins [Seriously? That's his name? Ed.] said the order was only a "temporary and prudent response" to the current situation. Apparently things are worse than usual, what with angry demonstrations in the Stans and across the Muslim world over "that film".
Reuters quote an anonymous ISAF official as saying "This is not a happy day for the coalition." Walt doesn't understand. Shouldn't they be happy not to have to go out and get blown to bits in a pointless exercise in pretending to be the world's police force?
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