By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – Coalition forces and Afghan
government leaders are attacking the issue of insider threats in Afghanistan on
several levels, a top commander in the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force said today.
Army Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, commander
of ISAF Joint Command, spoke with Pentagon reporters via satellite from the
Afghan capital of Kabul.
Insider attacks, which have cost 45 ISAF
lives so far this year, occur when an Afghan soldier or policeman, or an enemy
impersonating one, deliberately kills or injures a coalition member. Terry told
reporters the degree of insurgent involvement in such attacks varies.
“I sense these actions are driven by
fear of an increasingly stronger and more capable Afghan national security
force … [as the] insurgency is continuously degraded and discredited,” the
general said.
Afghanistan’s army and police forces and
the nation’s leaders, from President Hamid Karzai through the Interior and
Defense ministries and down to provincial and district governor levels, are
“seized by” the issue and committed to stopping it, Terry said.
Terry offered his condolences to the
families of those who have been killed in the attacks. “We will never let them
be forgotten,” said.
The general said the rise in attacks
over the summer may reflect the adaptive nature of an enemy whose bombing,
assassination and intimidation campaigns are turning Afghanistan’s people
against the insurgency. “The reality is we're going to face this,” he said.
An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman
announced today that hundreds of Afghan soldiers have been detained or removed
from service. Terry said while he has not yet heard the particulars about those
actions, the Afghan Interior and Defense ministries seek to limit insider
attacks by examining their recruiting procedures and looking for ways to vet
possible recruits more closely.
He noted the coalition is helping in the
effort, analyzing data on past insider attacks to determine trends and identify
threat factors. With that information, plus the ministries’ findings, “we can
better focus our vetting and screening efforts,” the general said. “In other
words, go back in and look at specific populations that we think are at
risk.”
The eight-step vetting process for
recruits includes background and criminal checks, medical and drug screening,
interviews and references, Terry said. The Afghan ministries are examining
those processes to ensure they’re as secure and verifiable as possible, he
added.
“In addition to that, they're looking at
increased efforts to improve the living conditions for their soldiers,” the
general noted, “and also how they prepare their soldiers for leave periods, and
then specifically how they address those soldiers once they return from leave.”
Terry said his own Army experience tells
him soldiers are most vulnerable to outside influence when they’re away from
their units, and he suggested Afghan military leaders consider leave periods as
critical for their attention.
Another initiative, he said, is a
counterintelligence program that places people trained in countering insider
attacks “inside of the formations, so that we can identify some of this threat
before it actually materializes out there.”
Terry said some 25 percent of insider
attacks since 2007 have involved either direct enemy planning or insurgent
support to an attacker. Some of the remaining attacks are personally motivated
by things such as perceived insults, he added, noting the overall issue
features some cultural factors coalition leaders also are examining.
“I would just say that what we all
recognize is that this is society that's really been traumatized by 30-plus
years of war,” Terry said. “It also has a gun culture.”
In Afghan culture, resolving grievances
and disputes often involves “the barrel of a gun,” he said.
“As we look toward cultural sensitivity
… and greater understanding of the culture and of the religion, I think we also
have to understand what this country and what this population [have] gone
through over time,” Terry said.
Because of cultural attitudes toward
social factors such as friendship and hospitality, Terry said, “I fundamentally
believe, … and this is based on my experience of three tours over here, … that
[the] closer you are in terms of relationship and friendship with the Afghan
partners, probably the safer you are.”
Within their own ranks, ISAF forces are
emphasizing cultural sensitivity training and building relationships with
Afghan partner forces, Terry said.
Meanwhile, Afghan units are gaining
strength and capability, he said, noting Afghanistan’s army and police forces
are getting close to 350,000 people fielded.
“I don't, frankly, see that slowing
down,” he said.
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