‘US taking steps to protect its forces in Afghanistan’

Amid a surge in attacks on its troops in Afghanistan, the US has said it is taking steps to protect its forces and there will be no change in the withdrawal timeline.

“The military continues to work to understand why there has been a spike in the kinds of attacks, the so-called green-on-blue attacks, in Afghanistan. We are working with Afghanistan to take measures to better protect our troops,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday.

He said the US commanders in Afghanistan are keenly focused on security for their troops and are taking necessary steps to reduce the incidents of these so-called green-on-blue attacks.

General John Allen, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has directed all his operational commanders to review their force protection and tactical activities in light of the current circumstances, Carney said at his daily news conference.

“As a result of that directive, ISAF directed a change in the level at which advising and partnering takes place. Most partnering and advising will now be at the battalion level and above. This does not mean that there will be no partnering below that level. The need for that will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

The US “continues” with its process of gradually handing over charge of security operations to Afghan forces, Carney asserted, ruling out any change in the timeline of security transition and withdrawal of US forces in wake of the attacks.

“It doesn’t affect the timeline. I think the issue here is partnering with our Afghan security forces. That’s what General Allen and ISAF were addressing,” he said.

Carney said the US also continued to partner with Afghan security forces to train them for capably take over responsibility for their own security.