Afghanistan: the Beginning of the End

US Military: American-Afghan Joint Military Operations 'Suspended'

In the wake of insider attacks which killed four more Coalition troops over the weekend, top U.S. officials have decided to suspend most joint U.S.-Afghan military operations.

Business Insider,

17 September, 2012

David Martin of CBS News reports that an order has suspended operations "until further notice." Afghan and American administrators and officers at higher echelons will continue working together, but most grunts on the ground are now sequestered from their Afghan counterparts.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey said Monday morning of insider attacks, "they are a very serious threat to the campaign."

Insider attacks have occurred 36 separate times this year, at a cost of 51 Coalition lives, most American.

The suspension comes on the heels of one of the most destructive attacks of the entire war—a Taliban raid on Camp Bastion. Still, officials maintain that only 10 - 25 percent of insider attacks are a result of Taliban influence.

A decision to suspend joint training so close to the scheduled drawdown date has grim implications, the only way generals have said they would believe it right to withdrawal would be under proper conditions on the ground. Current U.S. strategy depends upon "joint" training.

But with Coalition casualties doubling in the last 27 months, insider attacks on the rise, and suicides dominating the headlines, it seems "conditions" deteriorate more by the day.