Two solid years of soaring NATO death tolls in Afghanistan from insider attacks appears to have levelled off, with the latest reports showing figures roughly in line from the past six months. Officials say the ebb is the result of increased “cultural awareness” toward Afghan forces.
Officials are cheering this and saying that both the new training and the use of high walls between US and Afghan barracks have gotten the problem in check. Yet the toll is still floating around the near-term high.
Indeed, two solid years of increases in the insider attacks had fuelled panic among US military leaders about finding some way to curb the attacks, and the plans haven’t really stopped the attacks and have only succeeded in keeping them from getting even worse.
At the same time, other reports have suggested the number of insider attacks within Afghan security forces has been on the rise, with a spike in infiltrators attacking other Afghan forces before defecting to the Taliban.