'Green-on-blue' attacks are difficult to deal with, UK commander tells MPs

[unhappycamper]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/30/green-on-blue-attacks-uk



Afghan police officers and Nato soldiers on patrol in Paktika province.


'Green-on-blue' attacks are difficult to deal with, UK commander tells MPs
Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Tuesday 30 October 2012 14.46 EDT

"Green-on-blue" attacks by Afghan forces on British and other foreign troops are an insurgent tactic that is difficult to deal with, a senior British commander has admitted to MPs.

Lieutenant General David Capewell, the UK's joint forces commander, was giving evidence to the Commons cross-party defence committee, which also heard that British and other Nato forces would remain in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline ending ground combat operations, though it is unclear in what form.

"It is difficult to deal with, but we are all determined to get to grips with this," Capewell said of the attacks on Nato troops by Afghan security forces. Better training, force protection and vetting – including psychological tests and biometric screening – were among the measures being introduced to try to prevent such attacks, he said. "But you can never have a perfect system."

~snip~

Asked whether he seriously believed that Afghan forces would be sustainable once Nato-led troops gave up their ground combat role by 1 January 2015, Capewell replied that it was "an assumption we have to make". Asked who they would be loyal to, the general answered: "I rather hope to the Afghan government."

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt