US suspends most joint operations with Afghan forces

[clearvision]

FOX News:

The U.S. military has suspended the bulk of joint field operations with Afghan troops amid a wave of so-called insider attacks and concern about protests over an anti-Islam film.

 

Fox News has learned that while U.S. troops are still patrolling, as are the Afghans, the two sides are not running operations together for the time being without special approval.

 

Until now, U.S. and NATO troops routinely conducted operations with their Afghan counterparts. But under the new order, such operations will now require the approval of a regional commander. Fox News was told the step is a temporary measure.

 

The move comes after Afghan police on Sunday killed four American soldiers, and a gunman in an Afghan militia uniform shot dead two British soldiers a day earlier. It also comes in the wake of the week-long wave of protests across the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film.

[Chickadee]

The article is sort of a DUH . . . but in the clipped and highlighted words of the clipped article below, I hear a slight threat that 'we may not withdraw as planned if you guys don't get your act together.'

 

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the attacks do not mean the Taliban are succeeding. Instead, he said the Taliban "are resorting to efforts that try to strike at our force, try to create chaos, but do not in any way result in their regaining territory that has been lost."

 

 

So far this year, 51 international troops have been killed by Afghan forces or militants wearing their uniforms. The attacks have spiked in recent months, damaging the trust between the NATO and Afghan forces at a time when ongoing training and cooperation are critical in order for allied troops to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and turn control of security over to the Afghan forces.