All coalition troops at Afghan bases now armed around the clock

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The uptick in attacks by Afghan security forces against coalition troops has hit home, with all troops at NATO headquarters and all bases across Afghanistan now ordered to carry loaded weapons around the clock, CNN learned Friday.

Gen. John Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, ordered the move, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the orders. The order, made in recent days, was divulged amid two more so-called green-on-blue or insider attacks Friday.

An Afghan police officer opened fire on U.S. troops in Farah province in southwestern Afghanistan, killing two service members, the NATO-led command said. Two International Security Assistance Force troops and an Afghan service member was wounded by another Afghan service member in Kandahar province, in the south.
The order comes as coalition forces adopt and study measures aimed at thwarting such attacks.

In Afghan combat situations, all troops are armed. But at other locations, only base security forces had been regularly armed. Those troops have been called into action when insurgents have launched attacks on the base.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/17/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban/index.html

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War in Afghanistan disappears from campaign discourse
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57495619-503544/war-in-afghanistan-disappears-from-campaign-discourse/

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. This tells you something about how popular we are there.

$2 billion a month down the drain. Except some people are getting rich.

[naaman fletcher]

3. Well, it's not the simple...

they upticks in attacks are precisely because they want us to stay. My friend in the special forces told me two months ago that violence was way up but being hidden by the army. Basically, a HUGE number of afghans are now totally dependent on our presence there, and every time they think we are about to leave they start stepping up attacks so that it seems unstable and we don't leave.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. They're killing us so we'll stay? How stupid do they think we are?

Of course, your friend is absolutely right about the huge number of Afghans who are dependent on US-funded programs that will vanish when we do. We've tried to buy our way to popularity by handing out make-work jobs. Apparently, no one at the Pentagon, State, or USAID bothered to think about what would happen when the money dries up. Just another facet of the gigantic clusterfuck that is our Afghan occupation.

[naaman fletcher]

7. Welll...

You make good points and I am just relaying what I am told, but it sort of makes sense. Every time things get better we talk about scaling back. So, people's whose lives depend on us figure "we'd better make sure things don't get better".

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. What a nightmare.

[PavePusher]

5. About fucking time.

[underpants]

6. I was going to say - They aren't already?

Hell when we did simple maneuver operations in "Area Mud" (Germany) we were issued weapons (empty) but that is a staple of the Army...I thought.

[PavePusher]

8. These days, they generally don't arm people on the main bases...

even in the middle of a friggin' war zone. Every time I asked a SNCO or officer about that, I'd get, at best, blank stares and a shrug, if not a mild chewing-out session.

'Tis a great puzzlement.

[WooWooWoo]

9. you walk around with your weapon slinged

but no mags.

At least, when I was there that was the policy on most of the FOBs and the main airbases there. Some of the combat outposts had different rules depending on the unit stationed there.

The chow halls are going to be interesting over there now. Loaded weapons while carrying trays of food in a crowded hall. I hope everyone checks their M4 or M16 is on safe.

[NickB79]

10. What about just carrying sidearms on-base?

Berettas should suffice for close-range defensive shooting, no?

[WooWooWoo]

11. for those who are issued them, sure

but you have to be one of the lucky ones for that. Much easier to strap one of those on and walk around all day than have an assault rifle. But not everyone is issued a sidearm. I've seen unfortunate souls have to lug around crew serve weapons. THAT sucks.

[NickB79]

12. Sounds like a good place to issue PDW firearms

Like the FN P90: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_P90

[PavePusher]

13. Hell, no, not another mouse-gun.

M4's are fine. The problem is that the military long ago lost the mind-set that every member is, first and last, a rifleman. Everyone, in every branch, should go through the equivalent of BCT/AIT before every going off to specialty training. Every military member should have basic competency with M4, pistol, shotgun and SAW, regardless of daily duties. But that would require actual effort and training and it would mean one less fancy airplane or two in some Congress-critters district.