U.S. Suspends Training Of 1000 Afghanistan Police Recruits

By Newsroom America Staff at 2 Sep 2012

(Newsroom America) -- The ISAF in Afghanistan has "temporarily put on hold" the training of some 1,000 Afghan Local Police recruits to re-vet them after a rise in attacks against NATO troops by their Afghan counterparts.

More than 40 NATO troops have been killed so far this year in insider attacks either by members of the Afghan security forces or by suspected Taliban disguised as Afghan police or soldiers.

Just last week three Australian troops were relaxing at their base in southern Uruzgan province when they were shot at close range by an Afghan man wearing a military uniform.

The Deputy Commander of the ISAF, Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, said this "precautionary measure" was in response to concerns by Afghan, U.S. and other Coalition commanders over recent insider threat incidents.

"However, it is stressed that effective ALP operations are continuing to deliver significant results against the insurgency and that the working relationships between ALP, U.S. and other Coalition partners continue to be strong," he said.

The 8,000 Commandos and 3,000 ANA Special Operations Forces in the recently inaugurated ANA Special Operations Division continue with their normal operational activity.

The vetting status of all Commandos and Special Operations Forces was also being checked, but was having no impact on current operations.

The measures being applied to ANA special forces and ALP personnel reflects the intensive effort to recheck the vetting status of the some 350,000 ANSF personnel as part of a number of actions recently instituted to reinforce existing precautions related to the insider threat.

Lt. Gen. Bradshaw said much of this re-vetting task has already been completed and numbers of individuals, where vetting status has been found to be in doubt, have been suspended pending further investigation, or removed from the force.

Reflecting the current drive to counter the insider threat, senior ISAF and ANSF commanders and Afghan security ministers attended a conference yesterday chaired by Gen. John Allen, the commander of ISAF, to develop joint solutions to add to the already intensive effort to protect all soldiers, Afghan and Coalition, from the insider threat, noting that Afghan and ISAF alike have suffered.

"We noted that the campaign continues to move forward, with the insurgents under constant pressure and resorting to ever more desperate measures, such as IEDs and suicide bombings, whilst the ANSF grow stronger and more confident day by day.

"We expressed confidence that the ANSF will be more than capable of taking over full responsibility for Afghanistan’s security in 2014, and will thereafter enjoy strong international support," he said.