WASHINGTON: Nato-led troops have resumed most joint operations with Afghan forces after commanders restricted patrols with their allies in Afghanistan due to a spike in insider attacks, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.
Last week, the International Security Assistance Force announced a scaling back of joint operations with its Afghan partners following a dramatic rise in so-called “green-on-blue” assaults, in which Afghan soldiers turn their weapons on their Western allies.
“I can now report to you that most ISAF units have returned to their normal partnered options at all levels,” Panetta told a news conference.
But the Pentagon chief, who was joined by top US military officer General Martin Dempsey, could not provide details as to what percentage of joint operations had resumed.
Although the defense chiefs insisted the partnership was effectively back to normal, US military officers acknowledged that a new approval process that required two-star generals to endorse any joint patrols below the battalion level was still in place.
ISAF, responding to a mounting threat from insider assaults, had said on September 18 that joint patrols and other operations with Afghan troops would be carried out only at the battalion level and above, while activities with smaller units would have to be approved by two-star regional commanders.
The order has not been rescinded and the ISAF Joint Command “directive remains in effect,” said Dempsey’s spokesman, Colonel Dave Lapan. “Assessments continue.”
Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he conferred with coalition commanders this week in an unannounced visit to Afghanistan and that joint operations had been restored for the most part.
“When I left Afghanistan, the leaders I had spoken to had resumed operations as they had been previously organised,” Dempsey said.
Panetta vowed that the insider threat would not derail plans to transfer security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, paving the way for the withdrawal of most Nato combat forces.
“We must and we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our forces.
“But I also want to underscore that we remain fully committed to our strategy of transitioning to Afghan security control,” he said.
AFP
