US Soldiers Wounded In Latest "Insider" Attack At Afghan Base

Several US soldiers were wounded on Saturday after being shot by an Afghan soldier at a base in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, the third “insider” attack on US troops stationed in the country this year, and the second on one week. Initially conflicting reports emerged about the number of casualties in the attack, with Afghan officials telling Reuters that four US troops had been killed; that number has since been revised.

Here’s Reuters:

A spokesman for the U.S. military command in Kabul denied earlier comments by an Afghan official that Americans had been killed, but confirmed that an unspecified number of soldiers had been wounded at Camp Shaheen, the headquarters of the Afghan army"s 209th Corps in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

At least one Afghan soldier was killed and another wounded, the U.S. official said. Abdul Qahar Araam, spokesman for the Afghan army"s 209th Corps, had announced that an Afghan soldier shot and killed four U.S. troops inside the base.

The German military heads the multinational advising mission based in Mazar-i-Sharif. A spokeswoman for the German forces at the joint mission command in Potsdam said "according to what we know right now, no Germans were affected".

On June 11, three U.S. soldiers were killed and a fourth wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire on them at a base in eastern Afghanistan"s Nangarhar province.

As of yet, no group has taken credit for Saturday’s attack. The Taliban took credit for a similar attack that unfolded a week ago in Eastern Afghanistan that left three US troops dead and one wounded.

Following last week"s attack, Vice President Mike Pence, speaking in Wisconsin on Saturday, offered his condolences to the victims’ relatives.

"On my way here I was informed that U.S. service members were killed and wounded in an attack in Afghanistan," Pence said. "The president and I have been briefed; the details of this attack will be forthcoming. But suffice it to say, when heroes fall, Americans grieve. And our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these American heroes."

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced that he would delegate near-total authority to the Pentagon to determine troop levels in the country. Yesterday, the Pentagon announced it would send 4,000 additional American forces to Afghanistan to support existing forces, and in hopes of "breaking a stalemate in a war that has now been passed on to a third U.S. President." The deployment will be the largest of American manpower under Donald Trump’s young presidency.

As we cautioned, "Trump, who barely spoke about Afghanistan as a candidate or president, concentrating instead on crushing the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, may be underestimating the potential risk he faces by sending more troops in harms way." Today"s latest attack is a harbinger of what Trump faces as he sends even more troops into Afghanistan.

Pentagon To Send 4,000 Troops To Afghanistan In Trump's Largest Deployment Yet

Two days after Trump ceded unilateral authority on Afghan troop deployments to the Department of Defense, the Pentagon wasted on time and according to AP, the Pentagon will send 4,000 additional American forces to Afghanistan to support existing forces and in hopes of breaking a stalemate in a war that has now been passed on to a third U.S. President. The deployment will be the largest of American manpower under Donald Trump’s young presidency.

According to AP, the decision by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis could be announced as early as next week, and was prompted by "the rising threat posed by Islamic State extremists, evidenced in a rash of deadly attacks in the capital city of Kabul, has only fueled calls for a stronger U.S. presence, as have several recent American combat deaths." Asked for comment, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said, “No decisions have been made.”

Trump’s decision Tuesday to give Mattis authority to set force levels in Afghanistan mirrored similar powers he handed over earlier this year for U.S. fights in Iraq and Syria. The change was made public hours after Sen. John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Republican chairman, blasted Mattis for the administration’s failure to present an overarching strategy for Afghanistan. McCain said the U.S. is “not winning” in Afghanistan, and Mattis agreed.

The finality of the decision isn’t entirely clear. While Trump has handed over the troop level decision-making, there is nothing preventing him from taking it back.

Mattis has repeatedly stressed that increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would take place within a broader, long-term strategy for stabilizing Afghanistan. In congressional testimony this week, he said the strategy will take into account regional influences, such as Pakistan’s role as a Taliban sanctuary. Regional powers Iran, India and China, which all have political stakes in the fate of Afghanistan, also must be considered.

The bulk of the additional troops will train and advise Afghan forces, according to the administration official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the decision publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A smaller number would be assigned to counterterror operations against the Taliban and IS, the official said.

From the Afghan side, reactions were split: Daulat Waziri, spokesman for Afghanistan’s defense ministry was reluctant to comment on specifics Friday but said the Afghan government supports the U.S. decision to send more troops. “The United States knows we are in the fight against terrorism, ” he said. “We want to finish this war in Afghanistan with the help of the NATO alliance.”

However, another Afghan lawmaker, Nasrullah Sadeqizada, however, was skeptical about additional troops and cautioned that the troop surge should be coordinated with the Afghan government and should not be done unilaterally by the United States. “The security situation continues to deteriorate in Afghanistan and the foreign troops who are here are not making it better,” he said.

The gamble to send even more troops in Afghanistan is a big one for the president who inherited America’s longest conflict with no clear endpoint or a defined strategy for American success, though U.S. troop levels are far lower than they were under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. In 2009, Obama authorized a surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, bringing the total there to more than 100,000, before drawing down over the rest of his presidency.

Trump, who barely spoke about Afghanistan as a candidate or president, concentrating instead on crushing the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, may be underestimating the potential risk he faces by sending more troops in harms way. His predecessors both had hoped to win the war. Bush scored a quick success, helping allied militant groups oust the Taliban shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, before seeing the gains slip away as America’s focus shifted to the Iraq war. In refocusing attention on Afghanistan, Obama eliminated much of the country’s al-Qaida network and authorized the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, but failed to snuff out the Taliban’s rebellion.

Obama set a cap a year ago of 8,400 troops in Afghanistan after slowing the pace of what he hoped would be a U.S. withdrawal. Nevertheless, there are at least another 2,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan not included in the official count. These include forces that are technically considered temporary even if they’ve been in the war zone for months.

That said, Mattis’ deployment of more troops will be far smaller than Obama’s.  While the new troops could raise fears of mission creep, Mattis told lawmakers this week he didn’t envision returning to the force levels of 2010-11, when Obama thought he could pressure the Taliban into peace talks. Despite heavy losses, the Taliban fought on and in recent months appear to be gaining traction.

Meanwhile, this is the kind of news that awaits Trump: there have been almost 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded in eastern Afghanistan this weekend in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

Afghan Soldier Kills 2 US Troops In Insider Attack

This is a developing story...

Two US soldiers have been killed after an Afghan army soldier opened fired on them in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan official told the Associated Press.

Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar province, told the AP Saturday that two other US soldiers were wounded in the attack, which took place in the Achin district.

He said the Afghan soldier was killed after the attack.

The insider attack was similar to an incident in March, when an Afghan soldier opened fire at a base in Helmand Province, wounding three US soldiers.
 

McMaster: "Working With China On Range Of Options" To Respond To North Korea Provocation

President Trump"s top security advisor, Lt Gen HR McMaster told ABC News that the US and China are "working on a range of options" on North Korea, adding that there is consensus that this was a "situation that just can"t continue" as tensions mount over the country"s nuclear and missile programs.  McMaster also called the regime in North Korea "hostile" and said said that Sunday"s failed test fit into a pattern of "provocative and destabilizing and threatening behavior on the part of the North Korean regime."

"There is an international consensus now, including the Chinese leadership, that this is a situation that just cannot continue," McMaster said adding that "this latest missile test just fits into a pattern of provocative and destabilizing and threatening behavior on the part of the North Korean regime."

McMaster also said that North Korea"s Kim is unpredictable and has demonstrated his brutality.

H.R. McMaster praises "warm" Trump-Xi relationship, says "we"ll see what happens" on whether US can get China to pressure North Korea. pic.twitter.com/ITvQprzKYZ

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 16, 2017

The comments followed a statement by a White House advisor who told Reuters that the "U.S. doesn’t need to expend any resources reacting to failed missile launch by North Korea" who added that the U.S. wasn’t surprised by the launch and was “anticipating” it.

Additionally, during the interview, McMaster said the U.S. relationship with Russia can only improve. McMaster was asked about what gave President Trump confidence that things would "work out fine" between the U.S. and Russia," referring to a tweet last week from the president. "Well, when relations are at the lowest point, there’s nowhere to go but up," McMaster said.

He said he thinks Secretary of State Rex Tillerson"s visit to Russia was "perfectly timed."

"Russia has given support to a murderous regime in Syria that has perpetuated a civil war and as cycle of violence that," McMaster said. "Along with obviously the brutal - the brutal efforts of and actions of ISIS, have brought suffering to so many people, have created a crisis within Syria that has bled over into Iraq, and of course has bled over into neighboring countries and into Europe and so forth."

McMaster on China"s "isolating" Russia in U.N. vote: "What club to you want to be in? The Russian-Bolivian club, or the club" with the U.S.? pic.twitter.com/PgoBX2cXvr

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) April 16, 2017

McMaster called Russia"s support for that "kind of horrible regime" something that "has to be drawn into question."

"And so I think it’s time though, now, to have those tough discussions Russia.  And there’s nobody to do it than our Secretary of State," he said. "And then also to find areas of cooperation."

Last week Trump tweeted that things will "work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia. "At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace," the president tweeted.

Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2017

McMaster also touched on US involvement in the Syria proxy war and when asked if the US needs more troops in Syria, he responded that "that remains to be seen" adding "I don"t think so"

Does US need more troops in Syria? "That remains to be seen," H.R. McMaster tells @MarthaRaddatz. "I don"t think so" https://t.co/qXQmVOgusj pic.twitter.com/zKmKAHd1hs

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) April 16, 2017

As a reminder, last week several unconfirmed reports from both Mike Chernovic and Bloomberg suggested that McMaster is pushing for anywhere between 50,000 and 150,000 more troops in Syria.

McMaster is currently in Afghanistan where he met with officials in Kabul amid questions over the new administration"s plans for the military mission in Afghanistan after American forces unleashed a huge bomb there on militants. McMaster met President Ashraf Ghani and other senior Afghan officials to discuss bilateral ties, security, counter- terrorism, reforms, and development, according to a statement on the palace"s Twitter account.

The visit by H.R. McMaster, the first high-level visit by a Trump official, came just days after the U.S. military sparked controversy by dropping a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, one of the largest conventional weapons ever used in combat, during an operation on Thursday against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan.

As Reuters notes, while military officials said the strike was based solely on tactical needs, it led to speculation that Trump"s defence advisers are planning to escalate the war against militants in Afghanistan.

* * *

Earlier on Sunday, Trump tweeted that he was working with China "on the North Korean problem" suggesting that this was quid-pro-quo in exchange for not calling China a currency manipulator.

Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017

In a separate tweet Trump also said that "Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice!"

Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2017