NATO report exposed danger of Afghan ‘insider attacks’

Walter Barrie of The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal
Regiment of Scotland, with his son Callum (PA)

The report contained a series of warnings about the risk from Afghan forces to
their western allies. It said that attacks were not “isolated incidents”, as
had been suggested by both British and US commanders, but were part of a
worsening trend.

It added that the attacks were the result of a “crisis of trust” between
Afghan and Nato troops that was not being acknowledged by senior commanders.

Days after the report was published, in May last year, Dr Bordin’s research
was roundly criticised by the military and the document was classified
“Secret”.

Dr Bordin was removed from his job as a “Red Team Leader”, at the head of a
research group formed to find weaknesses in military plans, and told to
leave Afghanistan, where he had spent four years working for Nato.

Senior officers at the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf)
described the document’s findings as “inconsistent with our assessment”, and
said that the study was “was systematically flawed and suffered from
generalisations, narrow sample sets, unprofessional rhetoric, and
sensationalism”.

By declaring it secret, it could not be shared among officers across
Afghanistan. Although Isaf is American-led, its deputy commander is always
British, and other senior staff are drawn from British ranks, meaning it is
highly likely that senior British officers saw the report.

Dr Bordin strongly criticised the decision to keep it secret.

“That was the height of immoral behaviour,” he said.

“I have knowledge that can help save American lives and I was ordered not to
give that information out to another military entity.

“My fear is that if urgent action is not taken in terms of vetting and the
recruitment process, we could see this happen with groups [of Afghan
troops].”

Almost 18 months after the report was published, senior Nato commanders are
now re-evaluating its contents and putting some of Dr Bordin’s suggestions
into action.

Lt Gen Adrian Bradshaw, a British officer who has just finished serving as the
deputy commander of Isaf in Kabul, said: “Certainly the military did push
back on certain aspects of that report.

“But I think the key point is that it has been recognised since the beginning
of this campaign that cultural awareness, the ability to work closely with
our Afghan colleagues, is absolutely central to delivering mission success.”

It is understood that British troops arriving in Helmand are now specifically
briefed that the Uniformed Afghan Police represent a “significant threat to
their security” and “should not be trusted”.

After interviewing more than 600 US and Afghan soldiers, Dr Bordin recognised
“a rapidly growing systemic homicide threat (a magnitude of which may be
unprecedented between ‘allies’ in modern military history)”. His 70-page
report, entitled“A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility”, spoke of a
breakdown in relations between Western soldiers and their Afghan colleagues.

Afghans, it found, had been provoked into fights, and even attempts to kill,
by behaviour that included Western soldiers “urinating in public, their
cursing at, insulting and being rude and vulgar to ANSF members, and
unnecessarily shooting animals”.

Western troops, especially Americans, regarded the Afghans they were fighting
alongside as untrustworthy, dishonest, incompetent and practising “repulsive
hygiene”.

Source Article from http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568301/s/25b0f51f/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Casia0Cafghanistan0C96854950CNATO0Ereport0Eexposed0Edanger0Eof0EAfghan0Einsider0Eattacks0Bhtml/story01.htm

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