A vital psychological issue to consider is the immense battle stress experienced by Afghan troops, and the associated number of green-on-green incidents. This year alone, 53 Afghans were killed and 22 wounded in altercations with fellow ANSF members, according to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Contributing factors may include widespread -- though largely unacknowledged -- post-traumatic stress disorder, poor living and working conditions, and accelerated recruitment and training programs that put weapons into the hands of minimally trained and poorly vetted troops.
Dealing with these Afghan-on-Afghan fratricidal trends requires a long-term approach, with ANSF professionalism and leadership development at its core, along with refined personnel recruitment, training, and benefits programs. In the short term, U.S. units partnered with Afghans should not only be aware of these stress-factors, but proactively works to mitigate them.
