Official: Afghan soldier kills US service member

[bemildred]

Source: AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan soldier fatally shot an American service member and a local interpreter in southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, the latest in a string of attacks against U.S. and other foreign forces by their Afghan partners.

In the east, meanwhile, three U.S. service members were killed in a bomb attack, according to NATO and a U.S. official. The official confirmed the nationalities on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been publicly released. Further details were not immediately available.

In the insider attack in southern Kandahar province, an Afghan soldier opened fire with a machine gun from atop a building, killing a U.S. soldier and an Afghan interpreter and wounding three other coalition service members before he was gunned down, a senior U.S. defense official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details.

The U.S. military officially confirmed only that a man wearing an Afghan army uniform turned his gun on coalition service members late Wednesday, killing one. The incident was under investigation, the military said.ABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say three American service members have been killed in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan.



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[Alamuti Lotus]

1. do you have a take on this trend?

For most of the time these events occur, I had just assumed that the army was so infiltrated by the resistance (Talibs or other factions), so these things happen. Something about the frequency these days suggests more to me that certain elements of the army are part of the resistance. I have no illusions about the upper echelon of the Karzai puppet regime and the various spy agencies that are squarely aligned with the NATO occupation (some backed by India & Iran to keep the Taliban types in check), but mid- and lower-level parts of the army are likely to be fiercely nationalist and seem to be greatly impatient with current affairs..

[bemildred]

3. I think this is what happens when you engage in these stupid wars of occupation. nt

[teddy51]

2. I think it's far past time to get the hell out of that country. What are we supposed to be doing

there anyway?

[hardtravelin]

4. Seriously, fuck these guys.

Let's just get the hell out. I just returned from a deployment over there 2 weeks ago. I worked with the ANA every day, and was WAY more worried about them than the Taliban or Al Queda.

The time has come to leave, but the fucking politicians are too afraid to have a "L" in the column during an election cycle.

[bemildred]

5. Thank you for your serivce, and welcome to DU. nt

[hardtravelin]

6. Thanks, Bemildred

I've noticed your posts, especially relating to military matters.

IMO, most of the attacks (ANA vs US) have more to do with their perception that we somehow violated their PashtunWali code rather than them switching sides.

You have to be SO careful how you speak to these guys. They are not wired like a Western military. If you jump their shit (like you'd do in a heartbeat to a Private if he was F'd up) they will likely take it as an insult to their code. Once that stone is thrown, they WILL pay you back. Their code, however, says nothing about a straight up fight; they will get you-no matter what the circumstances. Once that's done, they can hold their head up again.

One more instance of us trying to impose our values/ethos/culture on a dissimilar culture with disastrous results.

[bemildred]

7. Yep, strangers in a strange land.

And they most likely feel the same way about us.

I am reminded of one time I was in a large city in a foreign country watching the traffic, and thinking that there were clearly well-defined rules of conduct that everybody was following, and that I had no clue whatsoever what they were.

But mostly, the military is just not the tool to you use to build a modern nation with, it's for DEFENSE, like the name says.