Monday, September 17, 2012

Officials: Most joint US-Afghan military operations suspended after attack that left 6 NATO troops dead - @NBCNews

Afghan security forces turned their guns on U.S. and NATO troops, killing four American soldiers and two British troops. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent

Most joint U.S.-Afghan military operations have been suspended following what authorities believe was an insider attack Sunday that left eight NATO troops dead, including four Americans, officials told NBC News.

“We’re to the point now where we can’t trust these people,” a senior military official said. So far this year, 51 NATO troops have been killed in these so-called blue-on-green attacks.

Four NATO soldiers killed in Afghan 'insider' attack

"It's had a major impact on our ability to conduct combat operations with them, and we're going to have to back off to a certain degree," the official said.


The suspensions of the joint operations are indefinite – according to one official, they “could last three days or three months.”

The U.S. training mission and joint combat patrols are "critical" to the U.S. plan to withdraw all combat forces by as early as the middle of next year and almost all U.S. military from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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