Afghanistan Update – U.S. General Assassinated by Afghan Army Soldier

by Jack

Breaking news: We just lost an Army Major General in Afghanistan from an insider suicide attack. The General’s name is not being released yet, pending notification of his next of kin. He was assassinated at close range while visiting the Marshall Fahim National Defense University on the outskirts of Kabul. The shooter is believed to be an Afghan soldier. 15 other soldiers were wounded, two are in critical condition. This comes on the wake of two U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers killed over the weekend. Pictured on the left is SSG Girard Gass, killed by Two Afghanistan soldiers while on a mission.

How this attack happened amid tight security has yet to be determined. A high ranking officer’s visit is typically kept extremely secret for just this reason, so how was it that an Afghan assassin was able to be in close proximity to the General is a question many are asking. The odds of this suicide attack are too high not to suspect information was leaked from high within the Afghanistan Army to Taliban Forces in well advance of the General’s visit and an operative within the Afghan Army was ordered to make the hit.

Spc. John Pelham, 22, and Sgt. First Class Roberto Skelt, 41, were both killed in Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Wednesday. They both belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group based out of Fort Bragg, N.C. The two men and their team were operating in a group of coalition troops in the district center in Tagab when two Afghan National Army soldiers opened fire on them, killing Pelham and Skelt, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby on Friday. The coalition troops immediately killed both attackers.

The attacks by Afghan soldiers on coalition forces account for 15% of allied casualties as of 2012. The so-called “green on blue” death toll has been steadily increasing since 2012. In 2008 it accounted for 2% of allied casualties. The insider attacks began spiking in 2011, just after President Barack Obama announced the plan to pull the surge forces, end combat operations in 2014, and shifting security to the Afghan forces. The reason for attacks have centered on a belief by Afghan Security that the Taliban will return to power. In order to ingratiate themselves with the Taliban and protect their families from retribution they have been defecting to the Taliban side. Other attacks on U.S. soldiers have been blamed on cultural misunderstandings. President Karzai blamed foreign spies.

There have been 2,341 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war, according to the website icasualties, which tracks service member deaths. The stabilization of Afghanistan is no more certain than it was 12 years ago, in fact it is probably worse thanks in no small measure to Obama’s bungling leadership and his penchant for firing his field commanders when they disagreed with him.

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