Friday proved to be disastrous for Americans when their Afghan allies killed six Americans
who were sharing the same installations. These Afghan partners are proving more dangerous to Americans than Taliban or Al Qaida and thus risking the allies’ relations and heightening mistrust between foreign forces and the Afghan soldiers.
According to US coalition forces, there have been 26 such attacks so far this year, resulting in 34 deaths. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks on Friday in Helmand province — an area of the south where insurgents have wielded their greatest influence.
In the first attack, an Afghan police officer shot and killed three Marines after sharing a pre-dawn meal (Sehri) with them in the volatile Sangin district. Then at around 9 p.m. Friday in the Garmser district farther south, an Afghan working on an installation shared by coalition and Afghan forces shot and killed three other international troops, said Maj. Lori Hodge, a spokesman for the coalition in Kabul. A U.S. defense official confirmed the three victims also were Americans.
Hodge said both shooters had been detained.
Sidiqi said initial reports indicated that the gunman in the Garmser attack was a student not associated with the Afghan police forces. But Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press that a member of the Afghan security forces in Garmser killed the international soldiers.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the latest killings, ordered investigations into the incidents and directed relevant Afghan authorities to work to ensure the safety within training and security institutions.
"The enemy who does not want to see Afghanistan have a strong security force, targets military trainers," Karzai said in a statement.
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