[He proved them wrong
days later, on the morning of May 11, when he opened fire on American trainers
who had gone to the outpost in the mountains of Kunar Province. One American
was killed and two others were wounded. Mahmood escaped in the ensuing
confusion, and he remains free in Kunar after the Taliban welcomed him into
their ranks.]
 |
Video
Image via Site Monitoring Service
Mahmood is shown
being welcomed by the Taliban after he opened fire on American trainers in Kunar Province |
KABUL, Afghanistan — It
was only after the young Afghan soldier’s hatred of Americans had grown
murderous that he reached out to the Taliban.
The soldier, named
simply Mahmood, 22, said that in May he told the insurgents of his plan to
shoot Americans the next time they visited the outpost where he was based in
northeastern Afghanistan. He asked the Taliban to take him in if he escaped.
The Taliban veterans he
contacted were skeptical. Despite their public insistence that they employ vast
ranks of infiltrators within the Afghan Army and the police, they acknowledged
that many of the insider attacks they take credit for start as offers by angry
young men like Mahmood. They had seen many fail, or lose their nerve before
even starting, and they figured that Mahmood, too, would prove more talk than
action or would die in the attempt.
“Even the Taliban didn’t
think I would be able to do this,” Mr. Mahmood said in an interview.
He proved them wrong
days later, on the morning of May 11, when he opened fire on American trainers
who had gone to the outpost in the mountains of Kunar Province. One American
was killed and two others were wounded. Mahmood escaped in the ensuing
confusion, and he remains free in Kunar after the Taliban welcomed him into
their ranks.
It was, he said, his
“proudest day.”
Such insider attacks, by
Afghan security forces on their Western allies, became “the signature violence
of 2012,” in the words of one former American official. The surge in attacks
has provided the clearest sign yet that Afghan resentment of foreigners is
becoming unmanageable, and American officials have expressed worries about its
disruptive effects on the training mission that is the core of the American
withdrawal plan for 2014.
“It’s a game changer on
all levels,” said First Sgt. Joseph Hissong, an American who helped fight off an insider
attack by Afghan soldiers that left two men in his unit dead.
Cultural clashes have
contributed to some of the insider attacks, with Afghan soldiers and police
officers becoming enraged by what they see as rude and abusive behavior by
Americans close to them. In some cases, the abusive or corrupt behavior of
Afghan officers prompts the killer to go after Americans, who are seen as
backing the local commanders. On rare occasions, like the killing of an American
contractor by an Afghan policewoman late last month, there
seems to be no logical explanation.
But behind it all, many
senior coalition and Afghan officials are now concluding that after nearly 12
years of war, the view of foreigners held by many Afghans has come to mirror
that of the Taliban. Hope has turned into hatred, and some will find a reason
to act on those feelings.
“A great percentage of
the insider attacks have the enemy narrative — the narrative that the infidels
have to be driven out — somewhere inside of them, but they aren’t directed by
the enemy,” said a senior coalition officer, who asked not to be identified
because of Afghan and American sensitivities about the attacks.
The result is that,
although the Taliban have successfully infiltrated the security forces before,
they do not always have to. Soldiers and police officers will instead go to
them, as was the case with Mr. Mahmood, who offered a glimpse of the thinking
behind the violence in one of the few interviews conducted with Afghans who
have committed insider attacks.
“I have intimate friends
in the army who have the same opinion as I do,” Mr. Mahmood said. “We used to
sit and share our hearts’ tales.”
But he said he did not
tell any of his compatriots of his plan to shoot Americans, fearing that it
could leak out and derail his attack. The interviews with Mr. Mahmood and his
Taliban contacts were conducted in recent weeks by telephone and through
written responses to questions. There are also two videos that show Mr. Mahmood
with the Taliban: an insurgent-produced propaganda video available on jihadi
Web sites, and an interview conducted by a local journalist in Kunar.
Though Mr. Mahmood at
times contradicted himself, falling into stock Taliban commentary about how it
had always been his ambition to kill foreigners, much of what he said mirrored
the timelines and versions of events provided by Taliban fighters who know him,
as well as Afghan officials familiar with his case.
Mr. Mahmood grew up in
Tajikan, a small village in the southern province of Helmand. The area around
his village remains dominated by the Taliban despite advances against the
insurgents made in recent years by American and British troops. Even Afghans
from other parts of Helmand are hesitant to travel to Tajikan for fear of the
Taliban.
Col. Khudaidad, an
Afghan officer who runs the Afghan National Army’s recruitment center in
Helmand, said Mr. Mahmood enlisted about four years ago. His story, up to that
point, would be familiar to many Americans: He was a poor boy from a family of
eight who worked sweeping up in a tailor shop and was looking for a better
life. The army offered steady pay, reading and writing lessons, and a chance to
see something beyond the mud hovels in which he was born and raised.
“He barely had a beard,”
recalled Colonel Khudaidad, who also uses only one name, in an interview. “He
looked so innocent that you wouldn’t believe what he did if you only saw him
then.”
Mr. Mahmood says he was
anything but an innocent. He grew up being told that Americans, Britons and
Jews “are the enemies of our country and our religion,” he said.
But until May, he worked
and fought alongside foreigners without incident. The change came in the
Ghaziabad District of Kunar, where he ended up after the start of 2012, he
said.
The area is thick with
Taliban, along with Islamists from Pakistan. Many residents sympathized with
the insurgents and often complained to Afghan soldiers about the abuses
committed by Americans and the failure of Afghan soldiers to control much of
anything beyond the perimeter of their own outpost, Mr. Mahmood said. The
Taliban, they glorified.
Listening to villagers,
Mr. Mahmood became convinced that the foreigners had killed too many Afghans
and insulted the Prophet Muhammad too many times. He wanted to be driving them
out, not helping them stay. The villagers’ stories “strengthened my desire to
kill Americans with my own fingers,” he said.
He contacted the Taliban
through a local sympathizer. He did not want help — he only asked the
insurgents “not to shoot me” if he managed to escape after attacking the
Americans, which he told them would happen in a few days.
He was on guard duty
when American soldiers arrived at the outpost on May 11. He waited for a few of
them to shed their body armor and put down their weapons, and then he opened
fire. (New regulations require American trainers to keep their armor on and
weapons at hand when visiting Afghan bases.)
The Afghan and American
soldiers initially thought the attack was coming from the outside. They “didn’t
even think that someone within the Afghan Army might have opened fire on
Americans,” he said. “I took advantage of this confusion and fled.”
He claimed to have hit
six Americans. “I don’t know how many were killed, though I hope all were,” he
said. The coalition said one soldier was killed and two were wounded.
The Taliban welcomed him
as a hero. He was given the title “ghazi,” an honorific for someone who helps
drive off non-Muslim invaders. “They let me keep the same rifle I used to kill
Americans.”
In August, the Taliban
featured Mr. Mahmood in a propaganda video, calling him “Ghazi of Ghaziabad.”
The video shows Mr. Mahmood, smiling broadly, being draped with garlands and
showered with praise from local elders, Taliban fighters and cheering crowds of
men and boys.
The following month, the
American-led military coalition announced that it had killed Mr. Mahmood in an
airstrike. The coalition now says it was mistaken and that Mr. Mahmood is still
with the Taliban in Kunar.
Villagers and officials
in Helmand backed up that account, saying Mr. Mahmood had been in touch with
relatives since the report of his death. Mr. Mahmood said he spoke only to his
mother, and that “she was happy.”
Sangar Rahimi and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed
reporting from Kabul, and an employee of The New York Times from Asadabad.