Afghanistan Times
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Foreign troops, particularly the United States forces, have targeted Afghan soldiers and civilians on several occasions in the past and came up with different but unsatisfactory excuses to cool down the ire. These attacks were criticized regularly, both by government officials and public, and dropped relations between Kabul and Washington to subzero level. These incidents were outlined as a major reason that delayed signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement when Hamid Karzai was head of the state. Though, the agreement is now inked, but there is no end in sight to these seemingly intentional and inhuman acts. The act was once again repeated on Monday morning in Logar province of the country when Afghan National Army’s (ANA) check-post was attacked by the US choppers. In the early morning attack, 10 Afghan soldiers were murdered by the so-called partner of Kabul in the war on terrorism.
The incident is also tragic and shocking because the ANA soldiers were killed despite they waved the national flag and military uniform to assure the pilots that they are friendly forces. The NATO’s Resolute Support mission promised to investigate the attack. Unfortunately, the Afghan defense ministry on Monday provided good ground to the NATO officials in the country to make up a story of its own that would divert attention from the reality. The ministry in a media statement said that the choppers came under the Taliban attack from area where the check-post is located.
Indeed, the statement is worth criticizing because the mission itself says that it is investigating the attack and had no knowledge of what prompted the incident. Therefore, no room is left for such controversial statements at this point. More importantly, if the helicopters were attacked by the militants even then the relevant US officials should be brought to the court of justice because they have no right to authorize pilots and troops to kill innocent Afghans. They should target the insurgents and other hostile forces rather than bombing civilian homes and security posts.
Moreover, there had been no talks and focus on repetition and harms of these attacks in the country’s power center. Repetition of such acts represents jingoistic character of the allied forces, because they easily get away after killing and injuring scores of innocent and unarmed Afghans. As a reaction to this discriminate approach of the respective judicial systems, green-on-blue attacks take place and insurgents never fail in finding new recruits. There is no denying to the fact that these attacks provide ground for insider attacks when it comes to revenge.
Therefore, what happened today in Chehltan area of Baraki Barak district should prod the Afghan government to show serious reaction as it was not the first incident and neither would it be the last one if preventive and stern approach was not adopted. No one should be superior to the laws of the land, no matter from which country they are, and on what position they work.
