News - Afghanistan

The US military provided sweeping details on Wednesday of the problem of insider attacks by Afghan security forces against American and other coalition troops, prompting lawmakers to call the screening process for Afghan forces "tragically weak."

There has been a 75% increase in insider attacks by the Afghan troops within the last two years. It has made US lawmakers to rule the screening process for Afghan forces "tragically weak."

While the Taliban have regularly claimed responsibility for such incidents, most of the attacks against US soldiers and other troops have been linked to personal agendas rather than an act of insurgency, according to information the US released on Wednesday.

But it is still believed that the second most common way in which such attacks occur are through insurgents claiming the false identities of Afghan security forces.

There is no way to completely eliminate the problem while measures have been taken to secure the screening process, according to Defence officials.

"We can do more, [the military must] monitor for problems and err on the side of interceding sooner, rather than later," top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith has said.

The Pentagon has said that most of the attackers were personally motivated without being controlled or directed by militant networks.Impersonation and infiltration of Afghan security forces were the second most common circumstances.

Wednesday incident in which an Afghan soldier killed a Nato troop in the south has not been included in the figures. There is disagreement between foreign forces and the Afghan army over what exactly happened on Wednesday, while there are speculation that it may have been an incident.