One American soldier killed and another wounded in "insider attack" in Afghanistan: NPR

Afghan cadets attend a graduation ceremony at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul. Insider attacks by Afghan forces are down from a record 44 in 2012.

Rahmat Gul / AP

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Rahmat Gul / AP

Afghan cadets attend a graduation ceremony at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul. Insider attacks by Afghan forces are down from a record 44 in 2012.

Rahmat Gul / AP

An attack in Kabul killed an American soldier and injured another Saturday morning. The attacker was a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, NATO said in a statement.

Other Afghan soldiers immediately killed the attacker, said NATO. The name of the American killed has not been published yet. NATO described the wounded soldier, who had been airlifted to Bagram airport, in a stable state.

This is the third time that an Afghan soldier kills this year a US counterpart, described as an internal attack. Jennifer Glasse reporter tells our Newscast team.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that in September, Afghan forces would increase the number of checks in response to these attacks. "They are bringing in more people than we have helped to train to know how to do it, to make sure we catch the radicalized people," Mattis told the press, according to Reuters.

The insider attacks are among the many data points to follow the progress of the war that lasted 17 years in Afghanistan. At their peak in 2012, there were 44 such attacks, reported Jennifer.

"We believe that the reasons for these attacks are complex," said General John Allen to Tom Bowman of NPR in 2012. At the time, Allen was the highest US commander in Afghanistan. He told Tom that insider attacks could be triggered by Taliban infiltrators, disputes between NATO and the Afghan security forces and even the time of Ramadan, the holy month of Muslims.

In 2012, when the United States reduced the number of its troops by about 100,000 men, there were between 70,000 and 90,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, David Welna of NPR announced a number between 14,000 and 15,000.

US officials have continued to stress that Afghan security forces are critical to US success in Afghanistan. "The Afghan security forces are incredibly brave and courageous," said General John Nicholson to Rachel Martin in the morning edition. "But they need our help."

Nicholson commanded US and NATO missions in Afghanistan from March 2016 to September 2018. He stated that Afghan security forces have improved significantly in recent years, including special forces and military personnel. ;aviation.

"The reforms they're conducting internally – retiring older officers, professionalising their forces – it's a new army," Nicholson told Rachel. "It did not exist at the beginning of the war."

Last month, as part of another notable insider attack, an Afghan guard fired on the US General in charge of training and advising Afghan security forces in Kandahar. Brig. General Jeffrey Smiley was awarded two balls to one member, reported Tom. The attack killed two top Kandahar leaders and injured several others, including the governor of the province and two Americans. The US Commander-in-Chief in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, was also present at the meeting but escaped without prejudice.