Trust Between American, Afghan Forces Difficult To Come By

Politics Daily:

Army Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Spino, a combat medic, was helping unload supplies at a remote base in Afghanistan last week when a dispute broke out between Afghan and western soldiers. At an increasing number of bases, Afghan and U.S. and other western troops are living together, an arrangement intended to accelerate the training and advising of Afghan security forces. Last week's confrontation erupted when an Afghan soldier was refused access to a landing apron where a helicopter was about to descend. Angry shouts were exchanged, and then the Afghan soldier raised his rifle and shot, wounding two Italian soldiers and killing Spino, a 45-year-old from Waterbury, Conn.

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Comments

[Ian Goldin]

01:11 PM on 01/06/2010

Incidents like these do not help the situation. We need as much support from the Afghans as possible.

This article has some interesting points on the strategy:

http://thepoliticizer.com/2010/01/05/goldin-conquering-afghanistan/