Afghan military academy shooter kills US general in 'green-on-blue' attack
An insider attack at an Afghan military academy outside Kabul has killed the highest ranking US Army member since the start of the war.
A NATO soldier opens fire toward journalists near the main gate of Camp Qargha, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on foreign troops at a military base, causing casualties, an Afghan military spokesman said.
Massoud Hossaini/AP
A US Army general shot dead today by an Afghan soldier at a military academy is the highest-ranking US fatality in the 13-year-long war.聽
The major general, whose name has not been released, was聽, according to the New York Times. The attack took place at Camp Qargha, an Afghan military training school outside Kabul that is modeled on Britain鈥檚 Sandhurst academy.聽
The Associated Press reported that聽, mostly US nationals. A German brigadier general was among those wounded. A spokesman for Afghanistan鈥檚 Defense Ministry told the AP that the聽聽and three Afghan troops had been wounded.聽
Those wounded were transported by helicopter to a hospital, but their conditions remain unknown. The Afghan Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that a聽聽and that the attacker was 鈥渨earing Afghan National Army uniform." The BBC reported that the shooting apparently took place聽.
The number of insider attacks in Afghanistan 鈥� known as green-on-blue attacks 鈥撀爃as fallen sharply since 2012, the AP reported. 鈥淚n 2013, there were 16 deaths in 10 separate attacks. In 2012, such attacks killed 53 coalition troops in 38 separate attacks.鈥澛�
As 海角大神 reported in 2013, steps were taken by both sides to limit the occurrence聽of such attacks on coalition troops.
鈥淭his violence is an embarrassment for both sides, it鈥檚 an issue that can create a lot of mistrust between us 鈥� and in the last months we have taken a lot of measures against this issue,鈥� says Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, chief of Army staff in the Afghan military.
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Among the measures implemented: The聽Afghan Army聽has added hundreds of counterintelligence officers to keep an eye on recruits for signs of 鈥渁nti-foreigner鈥� sentiment, soldiers returning from leave are interviewed and watched for signs of Taliban indoctrination.
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On the coalition side, the US has implemented a 鈥済uardian angels鈥� program under which units designate soldiers to provide security to troops who are training, overseeing, and accompanying Afghan security forces. The US has also reinforced its counterintelligence capabilities, and augmented cultural awareness training among its troops.
British-run Camp Qargha has been dubbed "Sandhurst in the sand," the Daily Telegraph reports. Afghan Army chief of staff Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi trained at Sandhurst in the 1960s.聽