Looking to stem the recent wave of "green on blue" attacks in which men wearing police or military uniforms have killed more than 30 U.S. or other international forces, Afghan officials said today that they have "arrested or discharged hundreds of their country's soldiers," NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Kabul.
According to Soraya, "an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman says many of the troops were discharged from the military because they had documents that were either incomplete or forged. He says the investigation, which is aimed at rooting out Taliban infiltrators and other troublemakers, began six months ago."
This news follows the weekend announcement that coalition forces were suspending the training of about 1,000 Afghan police recruits and that about 16,000 members of the existing force were being "re-vetted," Soraya adds.
"It's too soon to say how significant Afghanistan's decision to fire so many troops will be, analyst Gareth Price with the think tank Catham House said Wednesday.
" 'It's the first time something like this has happened,' he said.
"After many of the attacks, investigators have found that the attackers' 'documents were flawed or not adequately vetted,' Price noted. So the firings could be a chance to slow down the process, he said."
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