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A member of the US military service was killed on Saturday and another was apparently injured by a member of the Afghan army. The internal attack – the fifth in four months – occurred in the Afghan capital of Kabul, home of the US-led military coalition.
The attacker apparently belonged to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and was reportedly quickly killed by other Afghan forces, according to a statement released by the coalition. The two soldiers were evacuated to nearby Bagram Airfield, where the wounded soldier is now in a stable state.
No member of the service has been identified and details of the attack have not yet been released. It is therefore unclear whether the internal attack involved a Taliban sympathizer, personal conflict or other misunderstanding.
The apparent shooting comes as Afghan forces, backed by NATO advisers and airpower, struggle to contain the Taliban and other armed insurgents despite 17 years of continuous war. The attack was partly marked by a disturbing trend of internal attacks that in the past created intense mistrust between Afghan and NATO forces, including US troops.
Major American Bariki Mallya of the US Army told TIME that the "reassessment and adjustment of our force protection measures whenever there was an internal attack" was a "standard practice". He added, "We have not evaluated how to drive them more safely. "
The Pentagon has about 15,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. Most of them train and advise Afghan forces and rarely participate in direct combat. With fewer US targets on the battlefield, the Taliban found a way to infiltrate the various bases occupied by NATO forces through internal attacks, known in the United States. army under the name of "green against blue" attacks.
Less than two weeks ago, on October 21, the Czech Army corporal, Tomáš Procházka, was killed when an attacker opened fire on NATO forces in the western province of Herat .
Just four days later, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that injured US Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, who oversees NATO's military advisory mission in southern Afghanistan. The shooting killed General Abdul Raziq, one of Afghanistan's most powerful security officials, and his intelligence chief, following a meeting in Kandahar province. The commander-in-chief of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, was also present but managed to escape without being injured.
US sergeant Major Timothy Bolyard, 42, was shot dead by an Afghan police officer on September 3 after a meeting at Camp Maiwand, a facility in Logar province in the east of the country. The Pentagon has published a service biography showing a 24-year career, including seven deployments and six bronze star medals.
An Afghan assailant killed US Corporal Joseph Maciel, 20, in Tarin Kowt District, Central Uruzgan province, on July 7. Two other soldiers were also injured during the attack. Maciel and the other troops were all members of the 1st Security Assistance Brigade, a specialized unit of army advisers, deployed to train, advise and assist Afghan forces.
The series of insider attacks is in the latest report of the General Inspector of Reconstruction of Afghanistan (SIGAR), a US government watchdog, according to which the government Afghan controlled or influenced only 55.5% of the 407 districts. This is the lowest level since SIGAR began tracking numbers in 2015.
The quarterly report also indicated that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces "had made very little progress with respect to the Taliban pressure" from 1 July to 30 September. Civilians were killed during a multi-day siege that was the subject of a TIME story on the ground.
According to the Long War Journal, from 2008 to the end of 2017, Afghanistan has experienced 96 insider attacks, making at least 152 foreign soldiers killed and 200 wounded. Three Americans and one coalition soldier were killed in five attacks in 2018.
The figures, although ominous, are still far from the 44 insider attacks of 2012, which accounted for 15% of all deaths of soldiers. At the time, US military commanders ordered the units to designate "guardian angels" to provide security for soldiers working with Afghans.
The Pentagon has retained the names of Americans killed and wounded on Saturday pending notification from next of kin. The attack marks the eighth member of the US military service killed this year in Afghanistan. More than 2,200 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
