KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan commando opened fire on members of the American-led NATO coalition in western Afghanistan on Monday, killing one and wounding two, officials said.
The shooting, at the Shindand base in Herat Province, intensified concerns about a rise in the kind of so-called insider attacks that, at their peak in 2012, almost derailed the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
It came just days after a brazen attack by a Taliban infiltrator among the Afghan forces in southern Kandahar Province that killed an important Afghan police commander and wounded an American brigadier general.
In the Kandahar attack, the top American and NATO commander, Gen. Austin S. Miller, was present, but officials said he was unhurt and it was clear he had not been the target.
The NATO mission, called Resolute Support, did not disclose the nationalities of the service members killed and wounded on Monday at a camp on the Shindand base used by Afghan commandos. Afghan and American officials suggested the soldiers were from the Czech Republic.
“Initial reports indicate the attack was committed by a member of the Afghan security forces,” the NATO mission said in a statement.
The Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack. However, two Afghan officials in the west, speaking on condition of anonymity to share sensitive information they were not authorized to disclose, said the shooting was the result of an argument and not necessarily evidence of Taliban infiltration.
The officials said the commando, who was arrested, had been grieving for Gen. Abdul Raziq, the Kandahar police chief killed in the Kandahar attack, who had been revered by the security forces. The officials said the commando may have been angered by social media propaganda that suggested the top American commander who escaped the attack unhurt had deliberately left General Raziq vulnerable.
Such social media conspiracy theories reaching the Afghan foot soldiers have raised considerable concern among officials here, prompting the government’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, to criticize them.
The rapid-fire spread of rumors has been problematic for the American-led mission in the past, particularly at times when insider attacks were high, and the spread of social media has only worsened the problem.
“Spreading the rumor that this was done by Resolute Support is throwing water into the enemy’s mill,” Mr. Abdullah told a meeting in front of news media cameras, referring to the name of the American-led NATO mission. “The killers of General Raziq are spreading these rumors.”
The attack in Kandahar has only furthered growing concerns among American military officials over whether proper protection measures are in place. The concerns have escalated at a time when the coalition mission, including about 15,000 Americans, is expected to provide more help to Afghan forces struggling against a resurgent Taliban.
The Czech Republic has contributed about 250 soldiers to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Three Czech soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing near Bagram Air Base in August. Last week, a Czech vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near the same base, wounding three soldiers, one severely, according an American military officer.
Following an insider attack in the southern province of Uruzgan in July, a Pentagon investigation looked at whether the Security Force Assistance Brigade, a small mobile advisory mission, had used proper security procedures. While troops in the country have added more personnel for protection following the attack in Uruzgan, and another in Logar, some are still wary about protocols that allow Afghan troops on American bases without any screening.
Two military officers said high-ranking American officers can allow specific Afghan soldiers onto some bases without body scans or checks of their names against an official database of known insurgents and accomplices.
While those Afghans might be personally vetted by the American officers in an attempt to build trust, the practice has left security personnel nervous about the increasing possibility of an insider attack.
Besides physical searches of Afghan troops and the presence of more American protection units, known as Guardian Angels, the American military also sometimes seizes and searches the cellphones of Afghan soldiers for any connections to the Taliban, another officer said. Some Afghan soldiers have started carrying backup phones and concealing them from the American advisers.
General Miller, the top American commander, who is also in charge of the NATO forces, was clearly vulnerable in Kandahar, with the shooter positioned right in front of him at close range. What seems to have saved him was that the shooter’s gun was aimed at General Raziq, who had escaped dozens of attempts on his life.
Source : Nytimes
