Nato ordered a cutback yesterday in operations with Afghan forces in response to a surge of so-called insider attacks on foreign servicemen, but said the restriction was temporary and would not derail a 2014 handover of security to Afghans.
The order indefinitely suspending most mentoring operations came from the second most senior US commander in Afghanistan, Lt Gen James Terry, and applies to all front-line missions involving units smaller than an 800-strong battalion.
Nato spokesman Col Tom Collins said the order was only a “temporary and prudent response” to current threats of insider attacks and a week of mounting anger across the Muslim world over a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad. – (Reuters)
