Nearly three years after U.S.-led forces launched the biggest operation of the war to clear insurgents, foster economic growth and set a model for the rest of Afghanistan, angry residents of Helmand province say they are too afraid to go out after dark because of marauding bands of thieves.
Special operations forces in Afghanistan have resumed training Afghan Local Police recruits after a suspension last month in response to two insider attacks by recruits on their international coalition trainers in August, U.S. officials say.
Special operations forces in Afghanistan have resumed training Afghan Local Police recruits after a suspension last month in response to two insider attacks by recruits on their international coalition trainers in August, U.S. officials say.
The 2-year-old U.S. practice of mixing American and Afghan forces 24 hours a day has produced cultural clashes that have led to an increase of "green-on-blue" slayings of U.S. troops in which Afghan security personnel turn their weapons on their trainers, says an adviser to U.S. commanders and policymakers.
An Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in the south of the country before dawn Sunday, killing four U.S. troops, according to Afghan and international officials.
Two Americans were among three foreign civilian contractors working for NATO killed Sunday when a man in an Afghan security force uniform turned his weapon on them, an Afghan official said.
An attacker wearing an Afghan army uniform opened fire on international troops Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing one, NATO said. Coalition forces returned fire and killed the attacker.
The military is underreporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that a joint NATO-Afghan investigation into the burning of Korans at Bagram Air Field found that the "disposal process" of the holy books was improper but was not a malicious act intended to show disrespect for Afghans or Islam.
