Britain fears Taliban infiltration in Afghan forces
2009-11-05

Category NATO Taliban Nations Afghanistan Argentina City Kabul Category Regions Regions Asia South America Latin America People Hamid Karzai Event Afghan Terror War Source (AFP)

KABUL (AFP) - Military personnel on Thursday expressed concern about the safety of troops after a "rogue" Afghan policeman shot dead five British soldiers in Helmand province.

"Whether people will admit this openly or not, it is a fact that the Afghan police have been infiltrated at every level by the insurgency," Captain Doug Beattie, who trained Afghan soldiers and police officers in Helmand, told the Guardian newspaper.

An unnamed soldier reacting to the incident, wrote for the Independent saying he was "not surprised" by the attack.

"Most of them were corrupt and took drugs, particularly opium. The lads would go into police stations at night and they would be stoned; sometimes they would fire indiscriminately at nothing, " he said of the police recruits.

"There were no security checks - they were literally allowed to come into the compound and we had to rely on the local chief of police, who recruited them. We kept a close eye on them because we didn't know or trust them - it was for our own security," the soldier added.

The Afghan attacker on Tuesday opened fire at a checkpoint in the Nad Ali district -- where the vast majority of Britain's nearly 9,000 troops are based -- before fleeing the scene.

A hunt is now on to nab the assassin.

The soldiers killed had been mentoring Afghan police and living at the checkpoint. Brown condemned the incident as "terrible and tragic".

"What we know is that the Taliban have claimed responsibility for this," Brown told MPs in London.

"It may be that the Taliban have used an Afghan police member or that they have infiltrated the Afghan police force," he added.

The killings underscored the increasing complexity of the eight-year war in Afghanistan, where Western military and political leaders have put NATO training of Afghan security forces as the heart of any future exit strategy.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen refused to budge on his stance that NATO training of Afghan security forces must lie at the heart of any future exit strategy.

"I consider this an isolated incident and it does not change my position," Rasmussen said in an interview with AFP.

The top US military officer said the US-led mission in Afghanistan could resemble the troop "surge" in Iraq, possibly allowing a drawdown of troops in about two years.

"The timeline we've talked about is actually in a sense if I were to use the surge in Iraq, in 2006-2007, look where we are right now, sort of apply the same kind of time line to Afghanistan as best we can tell," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at an event in Washington.

A military spokesman said initial reports suggested that the Afghan policeman fired without warning.

"It's our understanding that one individual Afghan National Policeman, possibly in conjunction with another, went rogue. His motives and whereabouts are unknown at this time," he said.

Opposition leader David Cameron said the attack raised serious questions about the safety of troops mentoring Afghan security forces.

But Brown, echoing the NATO line, said training programmes were crucial because they showed that international forces were helping Afghanistan to manage its own affairs.

General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the more than 100,000 NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, said the incident was being investigated jointly with Afghan authorities.

"We will not let this event deter our resolve to building a partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces to provide for Afghanistan's future," the general said in a statement."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation and instructed interior ministry officials to "bring those responsible to justice". Related article: UN envoy warns Karzai of losing world support.

Four of the soldiers were killed outright and a fifth died later of wounds, the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

Six other soldiers were wounded, the statement added.

Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two were from the Royal Military Police.

The attack brings to 229 the number of British troops who have been killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Of these, at least 193 were killed as a result of hostile action.

With 94 soldiers now killed on active service this year -- 93 in Afghanistan and one in Iraq -- 2009 is the bloodiest year for the armed forces since 1982 and the Falklands War with Argentina.

Brown has faced persistent questions over the scope and purpose of the role in Afghanistan and whether troops were well-enough equipped.

Britain has around 9,000 troops based in troubled Helmand province, where they are battling Taliban insurgents. Brown has conditionally pledged another 500 troops for the mission.