US forces have killed a school teacher and arrested five other people during a night raid in a residential area in the northeastern Kunar Province of Afghanistan.
The attack has drawn criticism from Afghan lawmakers. They believe such attacks violate the security pact signed by Kabul and Washington on Tuesday.
Under the pact, Afghan forces will lead any night operations and any night raids must be coordinated by Afghan forces.
Afghan people have held mass rallies across the country to condemn such killings and to demand the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
However, the Tuesday pact signed by US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai paves the way for American presence in the country until 2024.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Michael Maloof, former Pentagon official, to share his opinion on this issue.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: This recent partnership deal between the US and Afghanistan, how much is it in accordance with Barack Obama’s word to bring back troops and end the war in Afghanistan?
Maloof: Well the United States is not going to be bringing back all the troops. This agreement was, the one that you referred to earlier, was something that was agreed to weeks earlier to allow US and Afghan forces mode of operation so that to avoid the very thing that allegedly happened with the school teacher and with the other civilians in the area.
As far as United States is concerned I think the ultimate goal is to stay in Afghanistan at least in a downsize fashion at least until 2024 as I understand it.
That means there is going to be a US presence there for quite some time but that does not mitigate the agreement that was struck a little earlier on just how the security forces are supposed to operate.
And it sounds like there was a clear violation-- I am sure it is going to be investigated as well-- but a clear violation of that arrangement in which Afghan forces were supposed to take the lead on any operation and US forces were to be there in a support of the role.
Press TV: How much will the training of Afghan security forces by US troops in this decade and next decade be effective and worthwhile keeping in mind the green-on-blue attacks taking place frequently?
Maloof: Well that is problematic, having Afghan forces were being trained by the United States then they turn on US forces on their teachers. I think that is one of the risks that are taken but I think the United States is committed to a policy of training these Afghans to turn over security operations to them.
Now the problem is going to be whether Taliban is going to infiltrate over that period of time and I suspect that unless the United States is confident that they have gotten rid of the Taliban that you are going to see increasing efforts by Taliban to infiltrate and indeed engage US forces about wearing the Afghan uniforms.
It is a very problematic issue but I think that US security forces are very, very aware of it and are also been very watchful of it but you cannot eliminate it entirely. That is for sure.
Press TV: And of course the longer US forces stay in Afghanistan instances of PTSD are likely to rise, instances of holy sanctities being insulted, the Qur’an burnings were the main ones. I mean what would we see from the Afghan people?
Maloof: Well I think the United States has a very bad track record in providing cultural sensitivity and training to US troops. You are dealing with 19-20 years old, they are just barely out of high school, many of them and they could care less about US, about foreign cultures let alone of their own and this is a very difficult problem and the instances of violations of some very serious cultural taboos in Afghanistan which all of us at our age appreciate has had a very, very debilitating impact on US-Afghan and indeed US-Pakistani relations.
I think that there has to be more of this kind of training if US forces intend to work with Afghan forces for any extended period of time but I am sorry to say that I think that you are going to see more instances of these kinds of violations.
AHK/JR
