Has it really come to this? A U.S. Army unit has engaged in a firefight with an Afghan Army unit resulting in two dead Americans and three Afghan Army fatalities.
Afghan officials say the Americans fired first. The Americans claim the gunfight broke out after two Americans were killed by mortar fire from an Afghan Army checkpoint.
3 comments:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB370/docs/Document%2011.pdf
The most interesting part to me is this statement:
"The unit was conducting a biometric survey, in which details like fingerprints and eye scans are gathered from locals in an effort to screen for insurgents."
Yikes.
Chris, thanks for the link. I spent a bit of time going through the 70-page report and found it convincing, predictable and utterly demoralizing. It depicts a relationship between ISAF and the Afghan National Army that is hopelessly dysfunctional. The Afghan general referenced was absolutely spot on - this study should have been done eight years earlier.
Petraeus, when he headed the military/civilian team of experts who produced FM3-24, the U.S. military's current counterinsurgency field manual was prescient when he told a reporter that counterinsurgent forces have a very short shelf life before they go, in the minds of the locals, from liberator/defender to occupier/oppressor. We ignored that tenet and virtually every other and are reaping what we sowed.
The levels of our arrogance, stupidity and hubris have been unparalleled.
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