The latest in a long string of “insider attacks” in Afghanistan took place in the southern Zabul Province, where Taliban infiltrators poisoned and then shot to death a group of Afghan police, killing eight of them before looting all the weapons and ammunition from the compound.
Troubles recruiting the massive numbers of security forces sought by NATO have left Afghanistan with extremely low recruitment standards, which has made it easy for the Taliban to get its fighters into the official security apparatus, carry out such attacks, and then make off with valuable gear.
In addition to this giving the Taliban a steady source of looted arms, the stream of insider attacks has fueled distrust among the Afghan security forces, who never really know if everyone in their unit is loyal, or if there are some insurgents within.
It also has had a major impact on NATO’s operations in Afghanistan, as they’ve dramatically limited the contact between NATO troops and Afghan military forces, which reduced the number of cases where infiltrators shot and killed NATO troops, but has also restricted cooperation on the ground.