'Soldier' kills US general

German and Afghan high-ranking officers among about 15 wounded

A US major general was shot to death on Tuesday in one of the bloodiest insider attacks of the long Afghanistan war.

A gunman dressed as an Afghan soldier turned on allied troops, killing Major General Harold J. Greene and wounding more than a dozen other people, including a German general and two Afghan generals.

Greene was a 34-year Army veteran. An engineer by training, he was on his first deployment to a war zone and was involved in preparing Afghan forces for the time when US-coalition troops leave at the end of this year. He was the deputy commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

Greene was the highest ranking US officer killed in combat in the nation's post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the highest ranking officer killed in combat since 1970 in the Vietnam War.

Five major generals were killed in Vietnam. The last was Major General John Albert Dillard, whose helicopter was shot down.

The attack at Marshal Fahim National Defense University underscored the tensions that persist as the US combat role winds down in Afghanistan.

It wasn't the only assault by an Afghan ally on coalition forces on Tuesday. In eastern Paktia province, an Afghan police guard exchanged fire with NATO troops near the governor's office, provincial police said. The guard was killed in the gunfight.

It wasn't clear if the two incidents were linked. Police officials said they were investigating.

Early indications suggested the Afghan gunman who killed Greene was inside a building and fired indiscriminately from a window at people gathered outside, a US official said.

There was no indication that Greene was specifically targeted, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because release of information is not authorized.

The wounded include a German brigadier general and two Afghan generals, officials said. One of the officials said that of the estimated 15 wounded, about half were from the US side, and several of them are in serious condition.

US officials nevertheless asserted confidence in their partnership with the Afghan military, which appears to be holding its own against the Taliban but will soon be operating independently once most US-led coalition forces leave at the end of the year.

The Army's chief of staff, General Ray Odierno, issued a written statement on Tuesday evening expressing condolences to Greene's family and the families of the others injured in the attack.

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have claimed more than 6,700 US lives.

"When the US loses a general like this, they have to review their approach to their Afghan partners, but they also have to stay committed," retired Afghan general Hadi Khalid told AFP.

AP - AFP

(China Daily 08/07/2014 page11)