Attacks strain trust between US, Afghan forces - We are back to 'Who's the enemy?'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/November/international_November594.xml§ion=international&col=

(AFP)

12 November 2010 KANDAHAR — When insurgents lobbed six grenades into a US-Afghan base in Kandahar this week, some US soldiers who took shelter in a bunker muttered darkly that it looked like an inside job.

Tuesday was the first night for a week that soldiers in the heavily-fortified base were not told to don body armour as darkness fell and, the troops said, an Afghan police officer may have passed that information on to the enemy.

The accusation highlights the sometimes fraught relationship between US and NATO troops and the Afghan forces they live with and whom they are trying to train to take over security so that foreign soldiers can pull out.

The incident came just three days after NATO and Afghan officials began probing reports that a rogue Afghan soldier shot dead foreign troops — said to be two US Marines — on a base in another part of the volatile south.

[msongs]

1. US leadership refuses to learn Afghanistan history & draw correct conclusions nt