The threat of “insider attacks,” where Afghan troops turn their guns on US or other NATO forces, seemed to have peaked in 2012, with the numbers much lower last year as NATO troops made it a point to limit direct contract with their Afghan counterparts.
Despite getting the number down by just avoiding them, Pentagon officials say that the threat of such incidents is “as dangerous as it ever was” after a Wednesday attack in Kapisa killed two US soldiers and wounded four others.
The Wednesday attack saw two Afghan soldiers turning their guns on the US troops before being killed themselves. The Taliban claimed the two were operating on their behalf, though this has yet to be verified.
Even as the attacks on NATO troops dropped from 2012 to 2013, the overall number of attacks continued to rise, as attacks by Afghan troops on other Afghan troops skyrocketed.
I suspect that the level of green-on-blue incidents have not been going down, except in the press reports back here in the US. The constant reporting of these attacks on our forces was forcing the USG to answer questions they didn't want to answer – or couldn't – such as "why are we still there?"
There are 2 ways to end this kind of warfare…either disarm the Afghani forces – or – end the occupation and bring all the troops home. Neither is going to happen anytime soon I guess.
Sarcasm Alert:
After all the US has done for Afghanistan you'd think they would be more grateful.
End Sarcasm.
The best way to keep soldiers from getting killed is to keep them in the USA to defend, – not on the offensive in foreign countries.