Rogue Afghan soldier kills two British troops in southern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

Rogue Afghan soldier kills two British troops in southern Afghanistan

2012-03-26 22:36:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (BNO NEWS) -- An Afghan soldier opened fire at the entrance to a coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing two British service members before he was shot dead by other coalition soldiers, officials said.

Major Ian Lawrence, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said two British service members were killed when an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire at the Main Operating Base in Lashkar Gah, located in Helmand province. The soldiers were serving as part of Task Force Helmand.

"Sadly, I must report that a Royal Marine and a soldier from the Adjutant General's Corps were shot and killed by an Afghan National Army soldier at the main entrance to Lashkar Gah Main Operating Base," said Lawrence. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the Afghan soldier who opened fire was killed when coalition forces returned fire.

Lawrence said the families of the service members have been informed and have asked for a 24-hour period of grace before other details are released. "The thoughts and condolences of everyone serving in the Task Force are with their families and friends," he said.

The motive behind the attack was not immediately known.

On Wednesday, 24-year-old British soldier Captain Rupert William Michael Bowers was killed when he was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Mirmandab region of Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. He was working alongside an Afghan security forces' patrol.

Monday's deaths raise the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 90, according to official figures. Six British soldiers were killed earlier this month when a roadside bomb struck an armored vehicle in Helmand province, making it the war's worst single loss of British life in one incident due to enemy action.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops later this year, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-03-26

[Steely Dan]

What are we wasting our time for out there? Any noble aims to bring democracy and human rights to Afghanistan have all but evaporated and the Afghan population are obviously far closer to the Taliban than they are to us.

[geriatrickid]

Does the afghan government pay compensation in these cases?

Do Afghanis come out and demand death to the perp and all of his relatives?

Does Preident karzai beg for forgiveness and offer sincere apologies?

Do the Afghan people offer condolences?

Naw, I didn't think so either.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[Colin Yai]

What are we wasting our time for out there? Any noble aims to bring democracy and human rights to Afghanistan have all but evaporated and the Afghan population are obviously far closer to the Taliban than they are to us.

Of course I stand to be corrected I think there has been more than 45 attacks on Nato Service men by their Afghan Colleagues since 2007 more than 75% of those in the last 2 years and approx 14 service men have lost their lives in the last 6 months or so to the very people they are posted there to help !!.

[Exsexyman]

What are we wasting our time for out there? Any noble aims to bring democracy and human rights to Afghanistan have all but evaporated and the Afghan population are obviously far closer to the Taliban than they are to us.

Of course I stand to be corrected I think there has been more than 45 attacks on Nato Service men by their Afghan Colleagues since 2007 more than 75% of those in the last 2 years and approx 14 service men have lost their lives in the last 6 months or so to the very people they are posted there to help !!.

But they weren't sent there to help the people were they. The excuse for the invasion, more than ten years ago, was to capture Bin Laden and close down terrorist training camps. As to what has been achieved, the answer has to be, not a lot! I just feel so sorry for the servicemen, used as expendable pawns by Western politicians. In ten years nearly three thousand of them have lost their lives, countless thousands more coming home with horrific injuries, loss of limbs, blinded, deafened etc. Plus probably tens of thousands of civilians meeting the same fate. And this is bound to accelerate during the build up to the stated withdrawal in 2014. Imagine being so stupid as to tell your so called enemy the date you will pack it all in, and leave them to it! Unbelievably naive. Within a short space of time things will be as they were ten years ago, the Taliban back in charge. The useful idiot Karzai will have to hot foot it to the West, to spend more time with his bank accounts. It has been reported that negotiations have already started with relevent parties, including the Taliban. So after all these thousands of deaths and maimings, not to mention the billions of dollars wasted, this is how it ends. Not with a bang, but with America and its allies falling to their knees, and the Taliban slowly unzipping their fly.

[metisdead]

A nonsense post has been removed as well as a reply.

[Scott]

A post referencing a deleted post has been removed.

[metisdead]

Another nonsense troll post has been removed.

[TexasRanger]

This is sad. Rest in peace brothers.

As for the bleaters, all military folk know the risk of war and do as they are told and go to do their duty. That is the only way. What does grate is when you are fighting a war and people "back home" bleat about what a waste of time it is. They have a job to do and to them and a lot of Afghans it isn't a waste of time.

Edited March 27, 2012 by TexasRanger

[Steely Dan]

This is sad. Rest in peace brothers.

As for the bleaters, all military folk know the risk of war and do as they are told and go to do their duty. That is the only way. What does grate is when you are fighting a war and people "back home" bleat about what a waste of time it is. They have a job to do and to them and a lot of Afghans it isn't a waste of time.

I have nothing against the initial aims of eliminating terrorists or giving human rights to the people. The sad truth is the commitment needed to achieve this is truly enormous and even the kahzai regime we helped install still puts more importance to the accidental burning of Qurans to the lives of innocent people killed as a result. Huge swathes of Afghanistan are still under Taliban control and our government is negotiating the terms of our surrender to the Taliban so they can reassert their 7th century status quo.

To succeed in replacing a totalitarian ideology with democracy might take hundreds of years and being imposed from the outside is even more difficult due to the resentment of outside interference. What really needs to happen is a Muslim civil war, not between Sunni and Shia, but between faith and reason. Reason has to win before progress is possible, but the whole world will welcome reason as a victorious brother should it eventually prevail.

Edit: This is the sort of thing I'm talking about - It's not worth sacrificing the lives of our brave troops to perpetuate this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17533816

Edited March 28, 2012 by Steely Dan

[Colin Yai]

This is sad. Rest in peace brothers.

As for the bleaters, all military folk know the risk of war and do as they are told and go to do their duty. That is the only way. What does grate is when you are fighting a war and people "back home" bleat about what a waste of time it is. They have a job to do and to them and a lot of Afghans it isn't a waste of time.

I have nothing against the initial aims of eliminating terrorists or giving human rights to the people. The sad truth is the commitment needed to achieve this is truly enormous and even the kahzai regime we helped install still puts more importance to the accidental burning of Qurans to the lives of innocent people killed as a result. Huge swathes of Afghanistan are still under Taliban control and our government is negotiating the terms of our surrender to the Taliban so they can reassert their 7th century status quo.

To succeed in replacing a totalitarian ideology with democracy might take hundreds of years and being imposed from the outside is even more difficult due to the resentment of outside interference. What really needs to happen is a Muslim civil war, not between Sunni and Shia, but between faith and reason. Reason has to win before progress is possible, but the whole world will welcome reason as a victorious brother should it eventually prevail.

Edit: This is the sort of thing I'm talking about - It's not worth sacrificing the lives of our brave troops to perpetuate this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-asia-17533816

This sort of thing were women are treated worse than the village Donkey has been going on for decades ,funding it should cease forthwith and allied service personell withdrawn , no doubt some left wing trendy will post and say its justified .

[thaibeachlovers]

This is sad. Rest in peace brothers.

As for the bleaters, all military folk know the risk of war and do as they are told and go to do their duty. That is the only way. What does grate is when you are fighting a war and people "back home" bleat about what a waste of time it is. They have a job to do and to them and a lot of Afghans it isn't a waste of time.

Perhaps men join up to protect their own country, not because they want to carry out political adventures!

As for people back home demonstrating against the wars- they were right about Vietnam, and they're right about Afghanistan. Seeing as it's THEIR tax money being used, they have a right to complain.

It's not the troopies fault they're fighting a war they can never win.

IMO, get out NOW, or stay in forever. Giving the enemy a departure date is insane- all they have to do is wait, and take over when NATO departs- so what's the point of the next 2 years?

[thaibeachlovers]

This is sad. Rest in peace brothers.

As for the bleaters, all military folk know the risk of war and do as they are told and go to do their duty. That is the only way. What does grate is when you are fighting a war and people "back home" bleat about what a waste of time it is. They have a job to do and to them and a lot of Afghans it isn't a waste of time.

I have nothing against the initial aims of eliminating terrorists or giving human rights to the people. The sad truth is the commitment needed to achieve this is truly enormous and even the kahzai regime we helped install still puts more importance to the accidental burning of Qurans to the lives of innocent people killed as a result. Huge swathes of Afghanistan are still under Taliban control and our government is negotiating the terms of our surrender to the Taliban so they can reassert their 7th century status quo.

To succeed in replacing a totalitarian ideology with democracy might take hundreds of years and being imposed from the outside is even more difficult due to the resentment of outside interference. What really needs to happen is a Muslim civil war, not between Sunni and Shia, but between faith and reason. Reason has to win before progress is possible, but the whole world will welcome reason as a victorious brother should it eventually prevail.

Edit: This is the sort of thing I'm talking about - It's not worth sacrificing the lives of our brave troops to perpetuate this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-asia-17533816

This sort of thing were women are treated worse than the village Donkey has been going on for decades ,funding it should cease forthwith and allied service personell withdrawn , no doubt some left wing trendy will post and say its justified .

The lefties have said all along that the point of the occupation is so girls can go to school. I hope they are going to give refuge to the women that believed in their propaganda, as they will surely be killed by the taliban for their actions during the occupation.

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

Please stay on the topic of the OP.

[johna]

The vast majority of enlisted men sign up for lack of any other employment; they know what they are getting into.

quote

"The motive behind the attack was not immediately known."

end quote

So they still have not figured out what they are doing there.

[Scott]

I believe the attack was by an Afghan soldier. I think he knows what he is doing in Afghanistan. I mean he knew what he was doing in Afghanistan.

[Colin Yai]

I believe the attack was by an Afghan soldier. I think he knows what he is doing in Afghanistan. I mean he knew what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Both Guy's knew Exactly what they was doing ,whether it was justified ----?, I'll let others far more qualified on the subject to answer

[GentlemanJim]

I believe the attack was by an Afghan soldier. I think he knows what he is doing in Afghanistan. I mean he knew what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Both Guy's knew Exactly what they was doing ,whether it was justified ----?, I'll let others far more qualified on the subject to answer

Well enlighten us as to why you think it may be justified.

[Colin Yai]

I believe the attack was by an Afghan soldier. I think he knows what he is doing in Afghanistan. I mean he knew what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Both Guy's knew Exactly what they was doing ,whether it was justified ----?, I'll let others far more qualified on the subject to answer

Well enlighten us as to why you think it may be justified.

As stated BEFORE I'll let the "experts" Answer , who I feel are far more qualified than I!. and I did write "whether" which is far far different than "may" . Edited March 30, 2012 by Colin Yai

[GentlemanJim]

I believe the attack was by an Afghan soldier. I think he knows what he is doing in Afghanistan. I mean he knew what he was doing in Afghanistan.

Both Guy's knew Exactly what they was doing ,whether it was justified ----?, I'll let others far more qualified on the subject to answer

Well enlighten us as to why you think it may be justified.

As stated BEFORE I'll let the "experts" Answer , who I feel are far more qualified than I!. and I did write "whether" which is far far different than "may" .

I am not hard of hearing. Why do you even raise the subject of 'justification'? 'Whether' is indeed different to 'may' in that the words contain completely different letters, the intent in the words in the context of this subject is however the same. Just what exactly are you asking the experts to answer? Whether a soldier trained and supported by British troops is justified in killing two young soldiers on allegedly the same side? I think you can answer for yourself, why on earth do you need an expert, and just what answer do you think an expert will give (I will give you a clue, it is a two letter word beginning with 'N' )?

[thaibeachlovers]

The vast majority of enlisted men sign up for lack of any other employment; they know what they are getting into.

quote

"The motive behind the attack was not immediately known."

end quote

So they still have not figured out what they are doing there.

I'm sure that they really do know, but they'll never tell us why, as it would invalidate the reason that they give for NATO being there.

The only reasonable action is to get out now. The Afghanis want us out- they should be careful what they wish for though!

[Steely Dan]

Fighting the Taliban is becoming a drag.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122130/Chief-army-officer-Afghanistan-orders-guardian-angels-protect-U-S-troops-insider-attacks.html

[chuckd]

Fighting the Taliban is becoming a drag.

http://www.dailymail...er-attacks.html

Those two wouldn't get very far in the Miss Alcazar Beauty Pageant.

[GentlemanJim]

Fighting the Taliban is becoming a drag.

http://www.dailymail...er-attacks.html

Those two wouldn't get very far in the Miss Alcazar Beauty Pageant.

I don't know, they could come in 2nd and 3rd by all accounts