U.S. halts training of some Afghan forces

Afghan Local Police (ALP) listen to a speech during a ceremony presenting new uniforms at Gizab village of Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, April 24, 2011. / AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

(CBS/AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. military has suspended training of some Afghan forces while the Americans review the process of vetting new recruits following a spike in deadly attacks on international troops last month, officials said Sunday.

There have been 34 attacks by Afghan police or soldiers on their international allies so far this year — at least 12 in August alone. The members of the Afghan security forces have killed 45 international troops, putting intense strain on the relationship.

The attacks have complicated a key pillar in the plan for the U.S.-led coalition to withdraw by the end of 2014 — training Afghan forces to take the lead in securing their own country.

Lt. Col. Todd Harrell, a spokesman for U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan, said the Americans have halted training for at least a month of about 1,000 trainees of the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a government-backed militia that is under the authority of the national police but operates independently. He said the Americans are redoing background checks on the Afghans.

"The training of the ALP recruits has been paused while we go through this re-vetting process to take a look at this process to see if there's anything that we can improve," Harrell said. "It may take a month. It may take two months. We don't know."

The United States and its allies have been training the Afghan army and police so that they can gradually take over security for the country by the end 2014. They hope to have about 350,000 Afghans trained and ready by the end of the year, and gradually have been putting them in the lead for security in parts of Afghanistan since last year.

Coalition authorities have said about 25 percent of this year's insider attacks had confirmed or suspected links to the Taliban. The militants have sometimes infiltrated the ranks of the Afghan army and police and in other cases are believed to have coerced or otherwise persuaded legitimate members to turn on their coalition partners.

The international forces in Afghanistan have been revisiting both security for their forces and re-examining the backgrounds of the Afghan forces in the wake of the recent attacks on international troops. The coalition has already been re-vetting Afghan soldiers returning from leave.

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U.S. special operations forces are responsible for the 16,000-strong ALP and decided to stop training the new recruits among them while re-vetting them. The ALP already in the field, who have already been trained, will continue to operate as normal, Harrel said. The government will also keep recruiting new members, he said.

Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan, also said there was no set date to resume training of the ALP.

The pause in training was first reported by the Washington Post.

Harrell also disclosed for the first time on Sunday that the Americans last month suspended operations by the Afghan special forces last month to re-vet those soldiers for any potential ties to insurgents or any other indications that they might turn on their allies. He said the suspension lasted less than two weeks and that the forces have since resumed operations.

Harrell said he was not aware of any Afghan troops who were suspended or flagged for monitoring in that round of re-vetting.

The Post also reported that training of special operations forces had been halted. But a spokesman for the NATO training mission in Afghanistan, or NTM-A, which oversees this training, said there has been no such pause.

"There has been no halt in training with NTM-A assets as they relate to special forces," said Maj. Steve Neta of the Canadian military. He also said no other training programs involving the traditional military or police have been halted for re-vetting.

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[redbeard718]

Why does America continue to give Karzai billions of dollars what it's clear him and his people don't care anything for American soldiers. And who is profitting from Americas presence in that country? Look how much Haliburton made in Irac, are they also making money in Afganistan. Some American companies are making millions in Afganistan. Also check out why the company formerly called Blackwater is still making millions in Iraq providing security (for who). And it's a shame all those American lives were lost in Iraq, for what. Iraq had nothing to do with Sept.11.

[pcfpgarty]

The concept of screening is basic and necessary when training individuals for the task of National security in any country. As was stated in the article screening will "not" prevent further insider attacks in the Country of Afghanistan nor for that matter anywhere else. It would not be able to predict changes in a recruits attitude or for that matter detect the motives of a would be assassin. Protection from those that are not afraid of death and have a soul born belief that they are doing the work of their God is not possible . We will fail in Afghanistan , in the long run , as we have already failed to achieve what we set out to do in Iraq .

[sjc_1]

The test for staying there another year is will it be better in another year, if not get out. We have to be realistic, if their leaders don't care and their people don't care, no amount of training is going to make any difference.

[doubleecho-2009]

At this point in time, there is NO logical reason that any American personnel should BE in Ahfganistan!
This is insanity! As well a a HUGE WASTE of taxpayer dollars!
The primary reason for going into Afghanisatan was to PUNISH the "taliban" for harboring "Al Quaeda" training camps.
OK - DONE!
Now, why would are mission "change" to completely wiping out the taliban" which seems fruitless?
GEE, could it be that our military-industrial complex has nothing really "better" to do than to fight an endless war that insures government appropriations?

[doubleecho-2009]

LOOK, it is TIME to GET OUT!
The Russians learned that fact WAY back, WHY are we being so damn stubborn?
Afghanistan is a tribal nation that will do what it pleases. The thought that a "central government" can be installed is hilarious! NO IT CANNOT!
The giving of lives of US service people right now are as wasteful as the lives during Vietnam! They are not "protecting" "our" FREEDOMS! Their lives are being sacrificed to the "machine" of war!
How great can it be for parents to realize that the death of their child was of no real consequence whatsoever! Pretty sad.

[john92021]

Did they finally teach them to count?

[jmn122736]

The U S and NATO have been training Afghanistan recruits for years now.

I would think there should be more than enough previously TRAINED and sufficiently skilled Afghans to take over the training of new recruits themselves. How many instructors does it take anyway?

Let Karzai be responsible for his own country since he obviously doesn't want the Taliban insurgents to be attacked without warning, or at least he wants to allow them to successfully use innocent Afghan civilians for cover.

I suspect that Karzai is a Taliban in disguise.

Karzai's words and actions are reminiscent of the Pakistani's response to the Bin Ladin raid. They were mostly peeved that they were not told of the raid in advance and the only logical reason for that is that they would have warned Bin Ladin in time for him to disappear (again) before the Seals could get there.

[mav547166]

When you broadcast to the world that you are leaving next year to an enemy that has not been soundly crushed what do you expect. They are making bets on who will be around for the long haul.

[doubleecho-2009]

There is NO crushing of an enemy that is intrinsically part of the population - FAILED AMERICAN STRATEGY!

[sobobx]

Good, halt the rest and get out of that ungrateful sewer pit of perverts and crazies. Not worth one drop of American blood. Bring the troops home NOW!

[doubleecho-2009]

Amen

[KansasCity-2012]

I have no doubt that enemies are infiltrating legitimate government backed policing activities and later use the attained position of advantage for internal attacks. It is extremely difficult to qualify or disqualify an applicant when the last 9 years of their history is in doubt. I say nine years, because that is how long the war has raged and chances are high that if the applicant is not very young, then they would already have participated in war in some capacity.