Updated September 02, 2012 19:36:23
The United States is reportedly suspending training for new Afghan local police recruits while checks are carried out on possible ties to the Taliban.
The move follows a series of incidents in which Afghan soldiers or policemen have killed western troops.
Last week, three Australians were killed and two wounded in a so-called green on blue attack. Their bodies are now heading back to Australia.
The suspension affects around 1,000 new recruits, while more than 25,000 existing recruits will be re-vetted.
In report in the Washington Post, US military officials are quoted as saying the guidelines on vetting recruits have sometimes not been followed in the past.
"We have a very good vetting process," the paper quotes an unnamed senior special operations official as saying.
"What we learned is that you just can't take it for granted. We probably should have had a mechanism to follow up with recruits from the beginning."
The report says the suspension of training for new recruits will allow US special operations forces to "re-vet" current Afghan recruits.
The Afghan local police is a relatively new force.
It was introduced to improve security in some of the most remote parts of the country.
It is trained in the main by American Special Forces.
NATO has around 130,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban's decade-long insurgency alongside government forces.
There are around 1,500 Australian soldiers in the country, based in Uruzgan province.
Most of the NATO troops are set to withdraw by the end of 2014 in a US-designed transition process that will put Afghan security forces in charge of security for their war-battered country.
The process is already under way, with security responsibilities of about half of the Afghan population transferred to the local security forces.
The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent months as part of efforts by the insurgency to undermine the transition process.
ABC/AFP
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, army, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, afghanistan, united-states, australia
First posted September 02, 2012 19:25:08
The United States is reportedly suspending training for new Afghan local police recruits while checks are carried out on possible ties to the Taliban.
The move follows a series of incidents in which Afghan soldiers or policemen have killed western troops.
Last week, three Australians were killed and two wounded in a so-called green on blue attack. Their bodies are now heading back to Australia.
The suspension affects around 1,000 new recruits, while more than 25,000 existing recruits will be re-vetted.
In report in the Washington Post, US military officials are quoted as saying the guidelines on vetting recruits have sometimes not been followed in the past.
"We have a very good vetting process," the paper quotes an unnamed senior special operations official as saying.
"What we learned is that you just can't take it for granted. We probably should have had a mechanism to follow up with recruits from the beginning."
The report says the suspension of training for new recruits will allow US special operations forces to "re-vet" current Afghan recruits.
The Afghan local police is a relatively new force.
It was introduced to improve security in some of the most remote parts of the country.
It is trained in the main by American Special Forces.
NATO has around 130,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban's decade-long insurgency alongside government forces.
There are around 1,500 Australian soldiers in the country, based in Uruzgan province.
Most of the NATO troops are set to withdraw by the end of 2014 in a US-designed transition process that will put Afghan security forces in charge of security for their war-battered country.
The process is already under way, with security responsibilities of about half of the Afghan population transferred to the local security forces.
The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent months as part of efforts by the insurgency to undermine the transition process.
ABC/AFP
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, army, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, afghanistan, united-states, australia
First posted September 02, 2012 19:25:08