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The reports forced a two-hour lockdown of the Afghan Department of Defense Tuesday:聽nearly a dozen suicide vests discovered hidden at the Afghan Ministry of Defense and an equal number of Afghan troops arrested for a possible terrorist attack this week.

In the end, Afghan officials deemed the聽reports false, but聽they ratcheted up growing concerns about an 鈥渋nsider threat鈥� within Afghan forces.聽

To some degree, the risk of Afghan troops turning against foreign troops or their own government is inherent in a counterinsurgency. Insurgents will seek to find ways to disrupt the very force being built to fight them.聽聽

But with US troops apparently mistakenly burning Qurans in February and an American soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians in March, US forces are on high alert for reprisals from members of Afghan security forces 鈥� be they Taliban infiltrators or outraged troops.聽

US military official say they are looking for ways to mitigate the threat.

鈥淚t is prudent for us to recognize that, as you know, revenge is an important dimension in this culture,鈥� Gen. John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, told reporters Monday in a Pentagon briefing. 鈥淪o we would be prudent ourselves in looking for the potential for that to emerge.鈥澛�

Nearly a quarter of the deaths of coalition troops in Afghanistan have been the result of 鈥済reen on blue鈥� incidents of violence 鈥� Afghan security personnel attacking coalition troops.聽

While Allen stressed that the relationship between the two allied forces 鈥渋n many cases ... in fact in most cases ... is very strong,鈥� he acknowledged that the US military has taken the 鈥渟teps necessary on our side to protect ourselves.鈥�

To lessen the opportunity for such violence on bases shared by聽Americans and Afghan national security forces, precautions include separate sleeping arrangements and 鈥渋nternal defenses to have someone always over-watching our forces,鈥� said Allen.

Afghan forces are also being taught 鈥渉ow to recognize radicalization or the emergence of extremism鈥� within their ranks through intelligence techniques, Allen said, adding, 鈥淭here have been some breakthroughs, in fact, in Afghan investigations, in arrests that have been made of elements that have been found in the ranks that potentially could have been a perpetrator for a 鈥榞reen-on-blue.鈥� 鈥澛�

It is 鈥渘o secret that the Taliban has had as an objective for some period of time infiltrating the ranks of both the ANSF [Afghan national security forces] and those elements that support us directly on board our camps,鈥� Allen 蝉补颈诲.听

Yet such attacks are also a cost of waging a war in which the training of Afghan security forces is America鈥檚 exit strategy, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta 蝉补颈诲.听

Allen echoed those sentiments. 鈥淚 think this is a characteristic of counterinsurgencies,鈥� he said. 鈥淥n any occasion where you鈥檙e dealing with an insurgency and where you鈥檙e also growing an indigenous force which ultimately will be the principal opposition to that insurgency, the enemy鈥檚 going to do all that they can to disrupt ... the integrity of the indigenous forces that developed,鈥� he further warned. 鈥淲e should expect that this will occur.鈥澛�