Afghan inside attack puts US troop deaths at 2,000

KABUL, Afghanistan — The killing of an American serviceman in an exchange of fire with allied Afghan soldiers pushed US military deaths in the war to 2,000, a cold reminder of the perils that remain after an 11-year conflict that now garners little public interest at home.

The toll has climbed steadily in recent months with a spate of attacks by Afghan army and police — supposed allies — against American and NATO troops. That has raised troubling questions about whether countries in the US-led coalition in Afghanistan will achieve their aim of helping the government in Kabul and its forces stand on their own after most foreign troops depart in little more than two years.

"The tally is modest by the standards of war historically, but every fatality is a tragedy and 11 years is too long," said Michael O'Hanlon, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "All that is internalized, however, in an American public that has been watching this campaign for a long time. More newsworthy right now are the insider attacks and the sense of hopelessness they convey to many. "

Attacks by Afghan soldiers or police — or insurgents disguised in their uniforms — have killed 52 American and other NATO troops so far this year.

"We have to get on top of this. It is a very serious threat to the campaign," the US military's top officer, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, said about the insider threat.

The top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, was blunter.

"I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Allen told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday. "It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."

The insider attacks are considered one of the most serious threats to the US exit strategy from the country. In its latest incarnation, that strategy has focused on training Afghan forces to take over security nationwide — allowing most foreign troops to go home by the end of 2014.

As part of that drawdown, the first 33,000 US troops withdrew by the end of September, leaving 68,000 still in Afghanistan. A decision on how many US troops will remain next year will be taken after the American presidential elections. NATO currently has 108,000 troops in Afghanistan — including US forces — down from nearly 150,000 at its peak last year.

The program to train and equip 350,000 Afghan policemen and soldiers has cost the American taxpayer more than $22 billion in the past three years.

Isa 14:9-  Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet [thee] at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, [even] all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Isa 14:10-  All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

Job 24:17-  For the morning [is] to them even as the shadow of death: if [one] know [them, they are in] the terrors of the shadow of death.

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