Afghan Policeman Kills NATO Soldier in Latest ‘Green-on-Blue’ Attack

Dempsey Arrives in Afghanistan to Meet With Karzai

by Jason Ditz, August 19, 2012

The Obama Administration’s efforts to phase out the term “green-on-blue” to refer to Afghan security forces attacking and killing NATO troops comes at an awkward time, as awareness of the problem is soaring, and the number of attacks is hitting record highs.

Once a comparatively rare occurrence, the “green-on-blue” attack today was the ninth such shooting in the past 11 days, and killed another NATO soldier, bringing the toll for the year to 40 slain. It comes as Gen. Martin Dempsey has arrived in the country to press for new efforts to reduce such attacks.

But despite all of the talk of better “screening” there seems to be comparatively little that is being done or indeed can be done. The US has been claiming better screening processes for months now, and the attacks keep getting worse.

Meanwhile, the Taliban seems to have clued into the fact that such attacks are higher profile than the average ambush, and are making more of an effort to insinuate themselves into the Afghan security forces for such strikes. With resentment and mistrust growing at an alarming rate, such attacks seem to be a major problem for occupation forces for the foreseeable future.

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