A terrorist attack occurred Wednesday morning killing 90 and wounding 400 plus in the
heart of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. 11 Americans were among the wounded. The explosion
happened during one of the busiest times of the day for traffic, and
it was very close to the German Embassy. The German Embassy is in the
Green Zone, where most of the foreign embassies are situated in
Afghanistan’s most populous city. Although the investigation into how
this happened is just beginning, some in the media are speculating
that the bomb laden truck had to get through security checkpoints with
Afghan Security Forces looking the other way.
Sadly, this would not be surprising, or the first time that the terror networks had help from
within government security forces. U.S. and ISAF forces have to work
with Afghan Security Forces to secure Kabul, as well as the rest of
the country and there will always be soldiers who will be sympathetic
or coerced into helping with a terrorist attack. While U.S. Military and NATO
soldiers are well-trained and are excellent at sharing their skill
sets with their Afghan counterparts, one area that the coalition has
failed at is making sure the Afghans are being taken care of financially
and medically. The government of Afghanistan has been accused over and
over of corruption and if the U.S., NATO and the rest of its ISAF
partners are going to have relations with the country of Afghanistan,
and continue to operate in the Green Zone of Kabul, someone has to
find a way to make sure the young men of Afghanistan who sign up to
serve their country have better allies in the embassies and FOBS they
protect. By ensuring their pay, medical treatments for their wounded
comrades and protections for the families would be a good start. This is not an easy task
for sure, but it has to be accomplished. If we cannot depend on these
young men to serve the greater good that is the future of their
country, then NATO and the U.S. are engaging in futility.
If we cannot work together and beat a common foe such as AL Qaida and the Taliban,
then how can the U.S. and NATO ever hope to be able to when a major
conflict against Russia or China if or when that time comes? And that
goes beyond agreeing or disagreeing on climate change and military
spending.
Photo credit: GW/counterthreatgrp.com