The Obama Administration likes to talk about how it works with other nations to get things done and how it cooperates on problems. Well, not always.
Last week the United States decided to suspend joint on-the-ground operations between US and Afghan security forces because of the number of insider or “green on blue” attacks, attacks where US or other allied soldiers have been killed by members of Afghan security forces.
The only problem was that we didn’t tell our allies in Afghanistan that we were going to do it.
Here is a report from The Guardian in London:
“The US military caught London and other Nato allies by surprise when it rushed into halting on-the-ground operations with Afghan security forces, after four Americans and two British soldiers were killed by local policemen at the weekend. …
Allies were only informed after the order had been written, causing a scramble to downplay its significance by the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) command and limit the political fallout in London and other Nato capitals.”
And this from The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia:
“Australia has been taken by surprise by a snap decision by NATO to cut back on operations with the Afghan army because of the coalition's high losses from ‘green on blue’ attacks.
The move to curtail joint on-the-ground operations throws the coalition's military strategy into disarray and could further undermine public support in Australia for the war.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith last night was seeking urgent clarification of the decision, announced in Washington.”
We have asked these countries to send their men and women to fight, and die, with us in Afghanistan. We are asking these countries to help support Afghanistan financially after we all leave. And yet we make a decision of this importance without telling them.
It’s amateurish. And it is embarrassing. It’s not what you do to your friends.
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