Afghan police shoot western soldiers

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Chitranjan Sawant

04 October, 2009

Of late there have been shooting incidents and loss of life when the Afghan police shot the western soldiers. Afghan Army appears to be above it.

THE DECALRED policy of the NATO is to train the Afghan Army and the Police and jointly patrol the insurgency areas in Afghanistan. It is an effective way of checking insurgency and winning the local population's hearts and minds and wean them away from the Taliban terrorists. Of late, however, the efficacy of this policy is being questioned by knowledgeable military experts because some policemen broke ranks and fired at the American and other western troops with whom they were patrolling jointly.

In the latest incident of this nature that took place this week, an Afghan policeman fired and killed two American soldiers and ran away before being apprehended. There was no apparent reason for this shooting incident. It is feared that the Taliban terrorists might have infiltrated into the Afghan police ranks to cause mutual friction and loss of life. The blood relations of that Afghan fugitive have been arrested and investigation in depth is going on.

Another case of an Afghan policeman shooting a western soldier took place during the Ramadan month. As we know, the devout Muslims are forbidden to eat or drink between dawn and dusk during Ramadanbut, there is no such restriction on men and women professing other faiths. A Muslim Afghan policeman saw an American soldier drinking water during a break in patrolling and just picked up his rifle and shot him dead. Other western soldiers shot at him and apprehended him before he could run away. It was sheer bigotry that caused this shooting incident.

On a close scrutiny of various cases of this nature, this correspondent, as an independent observer, finds that no serious incident of emotional blockage in relationship between the foreign forces and the Afghan army troops leading to shooting or loss of life came to light. At least none was reported like the present cases involving the Afghan police and foreign troops. So, either the psychological training of the Afghan police needs a revision or infiltration of terrorists into police ranks must be investigated in depth.

All said and done, it is still imperative for the foreign forces to win the minds and hearts of the local people to prevent them from coming under the influence of the Taliban terrorists.