U.S. Probes Whether Afghan Forces Colluded With Taliban in Deadly Attack

U.S. Probes Whether Afghan Forces Colluded With Taliban in Deadly Attack
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By Wade Zirkle

U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Jim Markert coordinates a POW recovery operation with an Afghan Army Brigade Commander in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Kunar River Valley, Afghanistan — A pre-dawn attack by the Taliban that killed three American soldiers and six other coalition troops earlier this month is raising new questions about many of the Afghan soldiers who were supposed to be fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with them.

Officials are investigating whether the Afghan troops may have colluded with the Taliban in the brazen assault on the remote coalition outpost along the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Their findings could complicate further the already difficult challenges U.S. trainers are having with the Afghan Army.

American officials have questioned 11 Afghan Army soldiers and one Afghan interpreter who were taken prisoner after the battle and later released. Many U.S. troops in the area suspect that the Afghan POWs may have passively helped their Taliban attackers by laying down their arms, or even actively colluded with the enemy in the attack.

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