Afghan Policeman Kills Three US Workers, Five NATO Soldiers Killed Elsewhere

Policeman Attacks Trainers Near Herat Airport

It is another deadly day in Afghanistan today, with NATO losing eight people, including five soldiers who were killed in attacks and three civilian contractors hired as part of the ongoing training mission.

The three trainers were Americans killed by a man in an Afghan police uniform at a training center near Herat airport, the latest in a long line of “green-on-blue” attacks by Afghan security forces against members of the foreign occupation.

Officials are always reluctant to confirm the identity of an attacker after such an attack, saying only that they were in a “uniform,” but by and large such attacks have been carried out by actual police and Afghan army forces, usually the result of an argument or other incident with the NATO forces.

The five NATO soldiers were killed in three roadside bombings. NATO has not provided any details about the three incidents, except that they placed two in the “east” and one in southern Afghanistan, which in NATO reports usually means either Helmand or Kandahar.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.