Two U.S. soldiers were shot dead in southern Afghanistan on Thursday by an Afghan soldier and apparently an Afghan civilian, in the latest incidence of supposed NATO allies turning on occupation forces.
The Afghan soldier involved in the attack was a platoon leader and the civilian was an Afghan literacy instructor at the military base. “We believe that both of the attackers had links with the Taliban,” said Masoom Khan, the Afghan district chief of police. The gunmen fled after killing the two soldiers, but were chased and later gunned down by helicopter fire.
Six Americans have now been killed and at least 15 wounded in attacks in Afghanistan since the news that the U.S. military burned copies of Muslim holy books. Dozens of Afghans have been killed and wounded by U.S.-supported Afghan security forces trying to quell protests.
The events of this week have highlighted the distrust between occupation forces in Afghanistan and locals supposed to have been on the side of NATO and Kabul. The Obama administration’s mission in Afghanistan hinges on training Afghan security forces to act as an effective proxy so that the U.S. can withdraw. But virtually every facet of the strategy in Afghanistan is falling apart after nearly four years of failure under Obama’s direction.
Always good to hear how well things are going in Afghanistan and how NATO/US will be winning any day now. Any day.
"We're winning!"
Leon Panetta addressing the troops in Afghanistan
It's all about "hearts and minds" you know…
Imagine that. Soldiers dying in war, in non other than the countries they're invading and occupying. The horror!
"Under Obama's direction…" oh, my, that's like some kind of an obligatory remark isn't it, to feed chum to the base (who are sure that if only some conservative were in power, they could sleep comfortably at night)… the point is that he had to say he liked "smart" rather than "dumb" wars for the reason (as it seemed) that we'd been lied into Iraq. But I guess it was inside baseball. The technology was being developed for "smart" wars all right, and it preceded his presidency. It meant "drones" and satellites, and that kind of stuff you saw in "Syriana." It came from a war machine which is only temporarily in the hands of an Obama and may or may not pass to a Republican, but a war machine it still will be.
I think those Afghans had a better picture of it than some of us do. And who knows – they might not be Taliban either. They might just have seen their chance and taken it.