Topics > Radical Islam/GWOT

General: Ramadan factor in Afghan insider attacks

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Pandora:
This is a combination of "military news/veterans" and "islam/GWOT", but clearly demonstrates UNsanity on the part of our military brass.


--- Quote ---American and Afghan officials are expanding the range of explanations for a surge in "insider attacks" on U.S. troops, adding on Wednesday the theory that the burden of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan combined with the summer heat may have prompted more Afghan soldiers and police to turn their guns on their American partners.

Whatever the underlying reasons, the attacks are taking a toll and raising questions about the risk of American and other coalition troops working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers. The close contact is an essential element of the U.S. strategy for putting the Afghans in the lead combat role as the U.S. prepares to pull out its last combat troops at the end of 2014.

The top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John R. Allen, said Thursday that while the reasons for the killings are not fully understood, the effect of Ramadan fasting is likely among the causes.

"The idea that they will fast during the day places great strain on them," Allen said, adding that the stress may have been compounded by Ramadan falling during the heat of summer and the height of the fighting season. He acknowledged that hunger and heat are not the primary causes for the killings, but it is among many "different and complex reasons for why we think this may have increased" lately.

He also cited Taliban infiltration of Afghan security forces and personal Afghan grievances against U.S. troops, who Afghans have in some cases accused of being brutish and insensitive to local culture and customs.

Insider attacks have been a problem for the U.S.-led military coalition for years, but it has exploded recently into a crisis. There have been at least 32 attacks so far this year, killing 40 coalition members, mostly Americans. Last year there were 21 attacks, killing 35; and in 2010 there were 11 attacks with 20 deaths.

Allen acknowledged that U.S. and Afghan officials have struggled to determine what's behind the rise in attacks. For months U.S. officials said the Taliban were to blame in some cases, but that most of the shootings were triggered by personal grievances against American and coalition troops by Afghan soldiers and police.

In many cases — possibly 40 percent — no reason can be determined   ::) - P. , according to a U.S. defense official who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The uncertainty reflects, in part, the fact that most of the shooters are either killed on the spot by return fire or they escape and remain at large. And even when they are captured, U.S. officials say, some shooters offer no coherent explanation. That was the case when an Afghan soldier shot Marine Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus of Greenville, Miss., on Jan. 31 at their joint base in Helmand province. No clear motive was ever established, officials said.

Allen said U.S. officials believe that about 25 percent of the shootings can be linked to the Taliban, either through impersonation of an Afghan security force member or through coercing or radicalizing him. Pentagon officials said Allen was referring to 25 percent of cases dating back to 2007. They said only about 10 percent of attacks in 2012 can be blamed on Taliban infiltration.

... Prior to its start this summer {Ramadan - P.}, U.S. officials made no mention, at least publicly, of its potential to raise the security risk for U.S. and other coalition troops working alongside their Afghan counterparts.

Allen said U.S. officials took precautions during Ramadan and will review what adjustments should be made in the future.

"We were very careful, actually, during Ramadan this year to undertake operations during those times that would not place great physical strain on the troops — their troops, as well as ours— given the partnership requirements," he said.

Mark Jacobsen, a defense specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. and a former senior NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan, said Allen's theory about the role of Ramadan in the insider attacks is "very reasonable."
--- End quote ---

Yah, "very reasonable".  I don't know who is more nuts, the 'slims or the brass willing to make endless excuses for them offing our people over there.

charlesoakwood:

May Romney choose a real military General for Afghanistan that we may
leave with them the memory of a supreme adversary.

IronDioPriest:

IronDioPriest:
"Ramadan made them do it."

Flip Wilson on The Ed Sullivan Show

Libertas:
 ::cussing::  pussy REMFs!   ::gaah::

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