(Adds another incident involving police commander)
By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Dec 24 (Reuters) – An Afghan woman wearing a police
uniform shot dead on Monday a civilian contractor working for
Western forces in the police chief’s compound in Kabul, NATO
said.
The incident is likely to raise troubling questions about
the direction of an unpopular war.
It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of
Afghanistan’s security forces carried out such an attack.
There were conflicting reports about the victim.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) said a U.S. police adviser was killed by
an Afghan policewoman. Then ISAF said in a statement only that
it was a “contracted civilian employee” who was killed.
Mohammad Zahir, head of the police criminal investigation
department, described the incident as an “insider attack” in
which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they
are supposed to be working with. He initially said the victim
was a U.S. soldier.
After more than 10 years of war, militants are capable of
striking Western targets in the heart of the capital, and
foreign forces worry that Afghan police and military forces they
are supposed to work with can suddenly turn on them.
The policewoman approached her victim as he was walking in
the heavily guarded police chief’s compound in a bustling area
of Kabul. She then drew a pistol and shot him once, a senior
police official told Reuters.
The police complex is close to the Interior Ministry where
in February, two American officers were shot dead at close range
at a time anger gripped the country over the burning of copies
of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base.
“She is now under interrogation. She is crying and saying
‘what have I done’,” said the official, of the police officer
who worked in a section of the Interior Ministry responsible for
gender awareness issues.
TIPS FOR TROOPS
The insider incidents, also known as green-on-blue attacks,
have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who
are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency
before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
Security responsibilities in a country plagued by conflict
for decades will be handed to Afghan security forces.
Many Afghans fear a civil war like one dominated by warlords
after the withdrawal of Soviet occupying forces in 1989 could
erupt again, or the Taliban will make another push to seize
power if they reject a nascent peace process.
At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force have been killed this year by Afghans wearing
police or army uniforms.
Insider attacks now account for one in every five combat
deaths suffered by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, and 16
percent of all U.S. combat casualties, according to 2012 data.
Hoping to stop the increase in the attacks, Afghan Defense
Ministry officials have given their troops tips in foreign
culture.
They are told not to be offended by a hearty pat on the back
or an American soldier asking after your wife’s health.
NATO attributes only about a quarter of the attacks to the
Taliban, saying the rest are caused by personal grievances and
misunderstandings. Last year, there were 35 deaths in such
attacks.
Afghan forces are vulnerable to “insider attacks” of their
own. In Jawzjan province in the north, a police commander shot
and killed five comrades overnight, the Interior Ministry said.
Last year, he defected from the Taliban, said the ministry.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement
that the commander had rejoined the Taliban. That could not be
confirmed.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
