4:04:00 PM
Two US Advisers shot dead in Afghanistan
As the anger over the Koran-burning controversy continued to convulse Afghanistan, another violent incident disrupted how the Kabul government interacts with its Western allies. On Saturday afternoon, a member of the Afghan Interior Ministry opened fire on two U.S. advisers -- a lieut. colonel and a major -- at the ministry's command-and-control center in the capital. The Americans were shot in the back of their heads as they sat at their desks, news reports said. "A countrywide manhunt is under way for the fugitive," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi told TIME.
Since the news broke, speculation has raged over whether the killer was an insurgent infiltrator or simply motivated by the Koran burnings at the Bagram airfield earlier this week. Sediqi denied the idea of infiltration, saying it is "clear that insurgent groups are not able to have such connections as this. The ministry is very secure, and we have not had any such incidents in the past. It cannot be suggested that he has links with some groups. But we will have to investigate.
The growing divide between Afghan soldiers and their mentors has already been stretched to the breaking point after six days of violent and deadly protests over the Koran burning that have left around 30 dead, including four U.S. troops previously killed by Afghan soldiers or men in Afghan-security-force uniforms. The burning of Korans by foreign troops on one side and the killing of foreign troops by Afghan soldiers on the other have pushed the level of alienation between the two sides to what could be an all-time high.
U.S. Major and colonel killed in Afghanistan as protests continue over Quran burning
All American and international advisers today deserted Afghan government buildings after two senior US officers were murdered in their office at the interior ministry in Kabul.
The unnamed colonel and major were shot in the head at the high security compound at the heart of the Afghan government, Reports suggest they were shot in the ministry's command and control centre. The compound would have been crawling with Afghan police.
The killing of the two high ranking US military advisers- is thought to be retaliation for American troops burning copies of the Koran - as bitter protests over the controversial actions enter their fifth day.
NATO earlier issued a statement confirming the two deaths.
It said.'Initial reports indicate an individual turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members in Kabul City today [Saturday], killing two servicemembers.'
NATO spokesman Lt. Col Jimmie Cummings said 'initial reports say it was not a Western shooter.' He declined to provide further information.
NATO forces have advisers embedded in many Afghan ministries, both as trainers and to help manage the transition to Afghan control and foreign forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014.
The Afghan Interior Ministry oversees all of the country's police, so has numerous NATO advisers.
Burn A Quran, Unite The Afghans
For the first time since 2001, Afghan Taliban, police, army, Shia, Pashtun, Uzbek and Turkmen are united against American occupation. What does this mean for us in Pakistan?
Pakistanis are too busy in their messy domestic politics to notice a major development in Afghanistan: the country might finally be slipping out of American hands.
Until now the Afghan Taliban and other resistance groups were fighting American occupation. But now new segments of Afghan population join the fight: Afghan police, soldiers and ordinary Afghans whether Shia in Herat, Pashtun in the south and east, or Uzbek and Turkmen in the north.
Afghans are united for the first time since 2001.
Bagram, the largest American military base in Afghanistan, is under siege by angry Afghans for the past five days on the outskirts of Kabul. They are trying to storm the fortified complex to drag US commanders out. Smaller US bases elsewhere face a similar situation. This is the first time US bases across Afghanistan are besieged simultaneously.
The most stunning part is that US-trained Afghan army and police has joined the fight … against the Americans.
Just today morning, two US military officers were shot dead point blank inside Afghan Interior Ministry, the most heavily secured building in Kabul. The killer, an Afghan soldier, remains free. No Afghan army or police officer is ready to arrest the killer. This shows wide support for the murder.
More and more Afghan policemen and army soldiers are turning their guns against US soldiers who trained them in the first place. Yesterday, the Afghanistan Analysis Team at PakNationalists.com made an excellent observation. It said that NATO and US soldiers don’t know whether they will be killed by Afghan Taliban or Afghan police and army [See our team’s excellent report, NATO Soldiers Don’t Want To Work With Americans].
And it’s not just the Afghans turning against US soldiers. NATO’s other armies are doing the same. The French are incensed that French soldiers were killed by Afghan soldiers last month because American soldiers peed on dead Afghan bodies. Why should French or Spanish soldiers die for American actions?
The death of so many brave Afghans as they protest the latest American blunder has saddened Pakistanis. But US troubles in Afghanistan are good news for us in Pakistan. Why is that so? Well, for starters, United States turned Afghanistan into an anti-Pakistan outpost, inviting India and others to create problems for us in our western regions, including Balochistan. The CIA and other allied spy services are known to provide indirect help to TTP and BLA terrorist groups, which they helped create in the first place to keep Pakistani military engaged and punish Pakistanis for not toeing US line in the region.
Now American troubles in Afghanistan should help us and our Afghan partners enhance our bargaining positions vis-à-vis American plans for our region.
We need to highlight:
1. How US army does not understand or respect the Afghans even after a decade of occupying the country.
Pakistanis are too busy in their messy domestic politics to notice a major development in Afghanistan: the country might finally be slipping out of American hands.
Until now the Afghan Taliban and other resistance groups were fighting American occupation. But now new segments of Afghan population join the fight: Afghan police, soldiers and ordinary Afghans whether Shia in Herat, Pashtun in the south and east, or Uzbek and Turkmen in the north.
Afghans are united for the first time since 2001.
Bagram, the largest American military base in Afghanistan, is under siege by angry Afghans for the past five days on the outskirts of Kabul. They are trying to storm the fortified complex to drag US commanders out. Smaller US bases elsewhere face a similar situation. This is the first time US bases across Afghanistan are besieged simultaneously.
The most stunning part is that US-trained Afghan army and police has joined the fight … against the Americans.
Just today morning, two US military officers were shot dead point blank inside Afghan Interior Ministry, the most heavily secured building in Kabul. The killer, an Afghan soldier, remains free. No Afghan army or police officer is ready to arrest the killer. This shows wide support for the murder.
More and more Afghan policemen and army soldiers are turning their guns against US soldiers who trained them in the first place. Yesterday, the Afghanistan Analysis Team at PakNationalists.com made an excellent observation. It said that NATO and US soldiers don’t know whether they will be killed by Afghan Taliban or Afghan police and army [See our team’s excellent report, NATO Soldiers Don’t Want To Work With Americans].
And it’s not just the Afghans turning against US soldiers. NATO’s other armies are doing the same. The French are incensed that French soldiers were killed by Afghan soldiers last month because American soldiers peed on dead Afghan bodies. Why should French or Spanish soldiers die for American actions?
The death of so many brave Afghans as they protest the latest American blunder has saddened Pakistanis. But US troubles in Afghanistan are good news for us in Pakistan. Why is that so? Well, for starters, United States turned Afghanistan into an anti-Pakistan outpost, inviting India and others to create problems for us in our western regions, including Balochistan. The CIA and other allied spy services are known to provide indirect help to TTP and BLA terrorist groups, which they helped create in the first place to keep Pakistani military engaged and punish Pakistanis for not toeing US line in the region.
Now American troubles in Afghanistan should help us and our Afghan partners enhance our bargaining positions vis-à-vis American plans for our region.
We need to highlight:
1. How US army does not understand or respect the Afghans even after a decade of occupying the country.
2. How US soldiers are trained and indoctrinated to be anti-Muslim, hence the repeated incidents such as burning the Quran at Bagram or flushing them in toilets at Gitmo. Even American policemen are trained to profile Muslims negatively. Among the worrying indications: the emergence of several hatemongering American preachers and the lone Norway attacker in July 2011 who said he was influenced by American religious hate speech.
3. The American military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan is destabilizing that country and the region.
The Pakistani foreign office condemned burning copies of the holy book by US soldiers. But that is not enough. Pakistani government should have the guts to go beyond condemnation to ask the Americans to take this incident as a sign they are not meant to stay here as occupiers and should leave.
If nothing else, we in Pakistan know that terror groups such as TTP and BLA will die a natural death once the Americans are out of Afghanistan.
AHMED QURAISHI
