Saturday, September 04, 2021

More "Afghan Allies": Who were they again?

So, now there's this:

The Air Force recognizes the immediate need at OCONUS and CONUS locations for language capabilities in Afghan primary languages . . . . The Language Volunteer Self-Assessment is an opportunity for DAF Airmen and Guardians* to self-identify as proficient in theses specific regional languages. Although not guaranteed, please be aware that once self-identified, you may be recruited for available opportunities to use the indentified language skills in support of various organizations outside your primary mission.

A couple of obvious questions that should be asked (and of course never will be answered):

1. If the armed services had spare Afghan linguist capacity sitting around unused, why weren't they deployed in the AOR instead of having us incur untold liability for thousands of local interpreters?

2. Seeing as how the nominal primary beneficiaries of the evacuation we just conducted were said local interpreters, it would seem we should have ample linguist capacity among the 122K we just took in. So why are we are trying to draft service members into what is now just social work?

* "Guardians" being members of the new Space Force.

Wednesday, September 01, 2021

"Afghan Allies": Coming to a small town near you . . .

2010: Gunfight Kills 2 Americans Who Trained Afghan Army

KABUL, Afghanistan A seemingly routine training practice in marksmanship went fatally wrong on Tuesday when an Afghan Army sergeant turned his weapon on an American trainer and a gunfight began. When it was over, the sergeant, two American trainers and an Afghan soldier who had been standing nearby lay dead.

2012: Troops Shot After Taliban Leader's Call

KABUL—Two U.S. Special Operations troops were killed by a man in Afghan police uniform on Thursday, a day after Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on more Afghan soldiers and policemen to kill Americans.

Two NATO soldiers killed in Afghan ‘insider attack’

Kabul: Gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms shot dead two NATO soldiers on a base in the country´s south on Wednesday, the coalition said, in the latest insider attack on foreign troops. So-called "green-on-blue" attacks -- when Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on international troops -- have been a major problem during NATO´s long years fighting alongside Afghan forces. Wednesday´s attack in the volatile province of Helmand is the first such incident since April, highlighting long-simmering tensions between Afghan and foreign forces.

2013: Afghan special forces commander defects with guns to insurgents

KUNAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An Afghan army special forces commander has defected to an insurgent group allied with the Taliban in a Humvee truck packed with his team’s guns and high-tech equipment, officials in the eastern Kunar province said on Sunday. Monsif Khan, who raided the supplies of his 20-man team in Kunar’s capital Asadabad over the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, is the first special forces commander to switch sides, joining the Hezb-e-Islami organisation.

Afghanistan 'plans to reintroduce public stoning as punishmentn for adultery'

Afghan teen fatally stabs US soldier in the neck, military officials say

2014: Afghanistan Hangs Five for 'Extramarital Sex' After Gang Rape

2015: U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies

2016: Taliban use 'honey trap' boys to kill Afghan police

The Taliban are using child sex slaves to mount crippling insider attacks on police in southern Afghanistan, exploiting the pervasive practice of "bacha bazi" -- paedophilic boy play -- to infiltrate security ranks, multiple officials and survivors of such assaults told AFP. The ancient custom is prevalent across Afghanistan, but nowhere does it seem as entrenched as in the province of Uruzgan, where "bacha bereesh" -- or boys without beards -- widely become objects of lustful attraction for powerful police commanders.

US Troop Killed, Another Injured in Insider Attack in Afghanistan

A U.S. service member was killed and another was injured in an insider attack on Wednesday in Kabul, according to NATO. A U.S. civilian was also killed and two more American civilians were wounded in the incident in the capital of Afghanistan, according to a release Wednesday from NATO's Operation Resolute Support mission in the country. The unidentified assailant was killed, the release states. The individual was wearing an Afghan army uniform when he opened fire on the coalition forces around 11 a.m. local time, the website al-Jazeera reported.

Bacha bazi: Afghan subculture of child sex slaves

The ancient custom, banned under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, has seen a resurgence in recent years. It is said to be widespread across southern and eastern Afghanistan's rural Pashtun heartland, and with ethnic Tajiks across the northern countryside.

Hopeless Afghan struggle to save boy sex slaves

Quivering with quiet rage, Shirin holds a photo of his teenage brother-in-law, who now lives as the plaything of policemen, just one victim of a hidden epidemic of kidnappings of young boys for institutionalised sexual slavery in Afghanistan.

2017: America's Enduring Bacha Bazi Problem in Afghanistan

2018: Killing of Utah mayor in Afghanistan was planned, according to Army investigation

OGDEN, Utah — An Afghan commando who fatally shot a Utah mayor serving in the National Guard in 2018 had planned the killing for weeks, according to an Army investigative report. U.S. Intelligence screeners failed to act swiftly enough on signs of the radicalization of the commando who was being trained by Maj. Brent Taylor, according to the report that was obtained through a public records request by the Standard-Examiner newspaper in Ogden, Utah. Taylor, 39, had taken a yearlong leave of absence as mayor of North Ogden for his deployment to Afghanistan. The killing occurred while Brent Taylor and the trainees were on a weekly training hike, the report said. They were making a final turn back to camp when Sgt. Asfar Khan of the Afghan special forces Taylor was helping train fired two to three shots, hitting Taylor in the back of the head, officials said.

2019: Three US Troops Wounded in Apparent Insider Attack in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- Three American troops were wounded Monday when an Afghan police officer opened fire at their convoy in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, a defense official said.