CNN Online: Afghan

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

2 U.S. troops killed by Afghan cop

By Barbara Starr, Masoud Popalzai and Chelsea J. Carter, CNNupdated 8:59 PM EDT, Fri August 17, 2012

Killings follow a claim purportedly by the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar that fighters are infiltrating Afghan security forces.NEW: NATO official's order was made in recent days as concern mounted over the attacksTaliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has purportedly released a statement In the statement, he says fighters are having success infiltrating Afghan forces"Green-on-blue" attacks have been carried out by Afghans in security uniforms

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The uptick in attacks by Afghan security forces against coalition troops has hit home, with all troops at NATO headquarters and all bases across Afghanistan now ordered to carry loaded weapons around the clock, CNN learned Friday.

Gen. John Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, ordered the move, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the orders. The order, made in recent days, was divulged amid two more so-called green-on-blue or insider attacks Friday.

An Afghan police officer opened fire on U.S. troops in Farah province in southwestern Afghanistan, killing two service members, the NATO-led command said. Two International Security Assistance Force troops and an Afghan service member were wounded by another Afghan service member in Kandahar province, in the south.

The order comes as coalition forces adopt and study measures aimed at thwarting such attacks.

Coalition steps up fight against Afghan 'green-on-blue' attacks

Now, anyone who goes to the base headquarters would see that all troops, regardless of their tasks, carry weapons with a magazine of ammunition attached, a U.S. official confirmed.

Troops now could fire against an attacker within seconds by sliding a lever on their weapons to make a round drop into the firing chamber. Loaded weapons are being carried both in the open outdoor areas of the base and inside buildings and meeting rooms.

Allen and his top commanders live and work at the Kabul NATO headquarters, attached to the U.S. Embassy.

The Friday green-on-blue attacks follow a claim purportedly from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar that fighters are infiltrating Afghan security forces to attack NATO-led forces on their bases.

"Many Afghans in the rank and files of the enemy have shown a willingness to help the (Taliban) in a shrewd manner," said a statement posted on militant websites Thursday and obtained by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the activities of militant groups on the Web.

"As a result, the foreign invaders and their allies at their military centers and bases are suffering crushing blows by these heroic soldiers."

CNN can't independently verify the authenticity of the statement, which was released in advance of this weekend's Eid al Fitr celebrations that mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Taliban are known routinely to claim responsibility for attacks and inflate casualty numbers.

Omar also urged employees of the Afghan government to seek out the group's newly established "Call and Guidance, Luring and Integration" departments that have been established throughout the country "so that they may leave the enemy ranks and join the fighters," according to SITE.

Omar's statement drew a sharp response from Allen, who accused the Taliban leader of issuing "an unmistakable message of death, hate and hopelessness for the Afghan people" on the eve of the Eid celebrations.

"The pride of the Afghan people has been smeared by killers who pose as soldiers and police, yet they represent the worst of humanity," Allen said Friday.

The commander accused of Omar of sending "young brainwashed men to carry out attacks in a fruitless cause," while he "rests comfortably from afar."

"He professes love for his fighters, yet he sends them to their deaths by the hundreds. Where is the vision that Omar speaks of? Where is the love he professes for the Afghan people?" Allen said.

"Are these not the acts of a deranged man who puts his own goals of personal domination ahead of the future of the Afghan people?"

Shootings by Afghan forces take growing toll on NATO troops

An estimated 101 NATO troops have been killed in green-on-blue attacks since May 2007 across the country, military analyst Bill Roggio said Friday.

Roggio, managing editor of the Long War Journal blog, which reports and analyzes terror issues, said green-on-blue attacks have caused around 13% of coalition deaths this year.

Of the green-on-blue attacks since 2007, about 40% of the deaths have occurred this year and 35% occurred last year, he said.

Roggio said there was a flurry of insider attacks early in the year, then a lull, and now a flareup in recent days. Green-on-blue is military lingo, with green a reference to Afghan forces and blue to coalition troops.

" 'Blue' is always the color of the friendly force, i.e. NATO/ISAF; 'Red' signifies the enemy force; and 'Green' is the indigenous force allied with, but separate to, the friendly force. In this case, 'Green' is the ANSF," said Maj. Adam Wojack, a media officer with the International Security Assistance Force, referring to the Afghan National Security Forces.

The U.S. military is starting to use the term "insider attack" rather than "green-on-blue" because it's easier to understand and because Afghan troops have been victims of the attacks.

The NATO-led command did not provide details about the deadly attack in Farah, but a provincial police chief told CNN that an Afghan policeman shot the American service members early Friday during a training session in the Bala Boluk district.

Police Chief Aqa Noor Kintos said two U.S. Special Forces members were killed and another was injured. The gunman was killed when troops returned fire, he said.

During the gunfight, an Afghan National Police member was also killed, and another was injured, he said. Lt. Col. Hagen Messer, a NATO-led command spokesman, confirmed that two U.S. service members were killed in the attack.

The Taliban claimed responsibility in a text message to journalists, saying a 70-year-old policeman killed the three troops.

It's the second time a man in an Afghan security uniform has opened fire on coalition troops in the Bala Boluk district. In December 2011, a gunman posing as an Afghan soldier wounded coalition troops.

Official: Man in Afghan security uniform kills 3 U.S. troops

In the Kandahar incident, the member of the Afghan National Army who turned his weapon against coalition forces was shot and later died of his wounds after he was taken to an ISAF medical facility. The incident occurred in the province's Zharay district, ISAF said.

The frequency of the insider attacks has prompted Afghan intelligence agents to go undercover during recruit training to spot possible extremists, military officials said.

Allen said coalition officials were working on a new procedure to check the backgrounds of Afghans who sign up for the army or police force.

The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Omar, who took over Afghanistan in the early 1990s and established a hard-line Islamic fundamentalist regime that gave shelter to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Omar vanished from public view after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban and its leaders from power in Afghanistan in December 2001 for refusing to hand over bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

Over the years, he has refused to be photographed or filmed, and has rarely traveled. As a result, Omar's appearance has remained a mystery to many. Those who have met Omar say he has one eye stitched shut, the result of a wound suffered during a battle with Soviet troops during their occupation of Afghanistan.

There have been conflicting reports about Omar's fate. As late as last year, the Taliban denied reports the leader was dead.

The attacks come a day after a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan killed seven U.S. service members, three Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter. Authorities are investigating whether the crash was caused by technical problems or a shoot-down.

Barbara Starr reported from the Pentagon, Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta. CNN's Joe Sterling and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.

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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Afghan girls risk acid attacks, poison

Deh'Subz, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Terrorists will stop at nothing to keep Afghan girls from receiving an education.

"People are crazy," said Razia Jan, founder of a girls' school outside Kabul. "The day we opened the school, (on) the other side of town, they threw hand grenades in a girls' school, and 100 girls were killed.

"Every day, you hear that somebody's thrown acid at a girl's face ... or they poison their water."

There were at least 185 documented attacks on schools and hospitals in Afghanistan last year, according to the United Nations. The majority were attributed to armed groups opposed to girls' education.

"It is heartbreaking to see the way these terrorists treat ... women," said Jan, 68. "In their eyes, a women is an object that they can control. They are scared that when these girls get an education, they will become aware of their rights as women and as a human being."

Despite the threat of violence, Jan continues to open the doors of her Zabuli Education Center, a two-story, 14-room building where 354 area girls are receiving a free education.

"Most of the (local) men and women are illiterate," Jan said. "Most of our students are the first generation of girls to get educated."

Seven small villages make up Deh'Subz, where the school is located. Though Deh'Subz is not Taliban-controlled, Jan has still found it difficult to change the deep-rooted stigma against women's education.

"They said, 'This is your last chance ... to change this school into a boys' school, because the backbone of Afghanistan is our boys,' " Jan recalled. "I just turned around and I told them, 'Excuse me. The women are the eyesight of Afghanistan, and unfortunately you all are blind. And I really want to give you some sight.' "

Jan has not seen the men since.

"You can't be afraid of people," she said. "You have to be able to say 'no.' Maybe because I'm old, the men are kind of scared of me, and they don't argue with me."

The Zabuli Education Center teaches kindergarten through eighth grade. Without her school, Jan says, many of the students would not be able to receive an education.

"When we opened the school in 2008 and I had these students coming to register, 90% of them could not write their name. And they were 12- and 14-year-old girls," Jan said. "Now, they all can read and write."

Jan's school teaches math, science, religion and three languages: English, Farsi and Pashto. It recently added a computer lab with Internet access.

"They can touch the world just sitting in this house," Jan said. "The knowledge is something that nobody can steal from them."

To shield the students from attacks, Jan has built a new stone wall to surround the school. She also employs staff and guards who serve as human guinea pigs of sorts.

"The principal and the guard, they test the water every day," Jan said. "They will drink from the well. If it's OK, they'll wait. ... Then they'll fill (the) coolers and bring it to the classroom."

Jan says she is so scared of poisoning that school staff members accompany children to the bathroom and make sure the children don't drink water from the faucet. Additionally, the day guard arrives early each morning to check for any gas or poison that might be leaked inside the classrooms. The guard opens doors and windows and checks the air quality before any children are allowed to enter.

"People are so much against girls getting educated," Jan said. "So we have to do these precautions."

Do you know a hero? Nominations for 2012 Heroes close August 31

Born in Afghanistan in the 1940s, Jan traveled to the United States in 1970 to attend college. Much of her family was killed or fled Afghanistan during the Russian invasion. She stayed in the U.S., raised a son and opened a small tailoring business. She became an American citizen in 1990.

Jan was always involved in various philanthropic efforts and community organizations in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She worked for many years to forge connections between Afghans and Americans.

Then the events of September 11 shook her to the core.

"I was really affected personally by what happened to the innocent in the U.S.," she said. "It's something that you cannot imagine for a human being to do to other human beings."

Almost overnight, Jan turned her small store into a workshop and launched an exhaustive campaign to help victims, first responders, U.S. soldiers and Afghan children. Jan and community volunteers sent 400 homemade blankets to rescue workers at ground zero and assembled and shipped nearly 200 care packages for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. When she heard that U.S. soldiers needed shoes to distribute to Afghan children, Jan and her volunteers sent them more than 30,000 boxes of shoes.

Still, in the back of her mind was a bigger dream. On a visit to her homeland in 2002, she noticed that women and girls were struggling from years of Taliban control.

"I saw that the girls had been the most oppressed," she said. "The Taliban regime was very brutal, brutal in the way that the woman had no place in their book. The woman had no right. No say in anything."

Jan said that while her life in America was fulfilling and rich, her dream was "to do something for Afghanistan and to educate the girls."

So in 2004, she began searching for land on which to build a school. In 2005, she began fundraising through her Massachusetts-based nonprofit, Razia's Ray of Hope. Then, on a visit to Afghanistan, Jan was able to negotiate with the Ministry of Education to secure the land where the Zabuli Education Center now stands.

"After five years now, (the men) are shoulder to shoulder with me, which is such a great thing," Jan said. "It's unbelievable how much they are proud of the girls."

The school is entirely free. Jan says it costs $300 to teach each girl for an entire year. Those fees are covered by donations to her nonprofit.

Read about the CNN Heroes of 2012

Although she isn't there every day of the week, Jan spends as much time at the school as possible. She meets with her students' fathers and grandfathers two or three times a year to address any issues and make sure she still has their buy-in. She also deals with community elders and locals to ensure that the school has local support.

Jan, who takes no money for her work with the school, believes the education her students receive will benefit not only future generations of Afghan women but the country as a whole.

"My school is very small. It's nothing big. But for this to start here, I think it's like a fire. And I think it will grow," she said.

"I hope that one day these girls ... will come back and teach, because I'm not going to be there all my life. I want to make this school something that will last 100 years from now."

Want to get involved? Check out the Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation website at www.raziasrayofhope.org and see how to help.

CNN's Sumnima Udas and Sanjiv Talreja contributed to this report.

updated 4:28 PM EDT, Thu July 19, 2012

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