06 sept 2012
The Taliban are involved in a quarter of Afghan security personnel attacks on Nato colleagues, according to a military commander.
The surge of assaults, unprecedented in modern warfare, have seen Afghan troops opening fire on their Nato colleagues more than 30 times this year,killing at least 45 foreign troops — most of them Americans.
US Lieutenant General James Terry, head of Nato-led coalition’s joint command in Afghanistan, said 25-26% of the attacks were “insurgent-related”. In an overnight briefing to reporters in Washington via video link from Afghanistan, he said 10% of attacks are “directly connected” to insurgents and classified 15% as “insurgent-associated”.
“In other words, there’s some indication there as soldiers commit the offences, they escape from the area. There’s some insurgent facilitation that — that helps them. So that’s where you get the 25% from, and that’s the insurgent involvement,” he said.
He said officials did not know the exact cause of the remaining attacks, but estimated another 25% were “personal”, which he admitted could be eased by greater understanding of cultural sensitivities.
The Taliban are involved in a quarter of Afghan security personnel attacks on Nato colleagues, according to a military commander.
The surge of assaults, unprecedented in modern warfare, have seen Afghan troops opening fire on their Nato colleagues more than 30 times this year,killing at least 45 foreign troops — most of them Americans.
US Lieutenant General James Terry, head of Nato-led coalition’s joint command in Afghanistan, said 25-26% of the attacks were “insurgent-related”. In an overnight briefing to reporters in Washington via video link from Afghanistan, he said 10% of attacks are “directly connected” to insurgents and classified 15% as “insurgent-associated”.
“In other words, there’s some indication there as soldiers commit the offences, they escape from the area. There’s some insurgent facilitation that — that helps them. So that’s where you get the 25% from, and that’s the insurgent involvement,” he said.
He said officials did not know the exact cause of the remaining attacks, but estimated another 25% were “personal”, which he admitted could be eased by greater understanding of cultural sensitivities.
No comments:
Post a Comment