U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Tarasiewicz and an Afghan policeman speak with a village official in Khoni Kwar village in Afghanistan's Khowst province, Dec. 14, 2012. Tarasiewicz is assigned to Company A, 3rd Special Troops Battalion. U.S. soldiers and Afghan police were trying to gain any information on an improvised explosive device located in the area. They also distributed blankets to village residents during the mission. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kimberly Trumbull
Hard Feelings On Both Sides As U.S. Winds Down Afghanistan Role -- David Zucchino, Fay Observer/L.A. Times
SUROBI, Afghanistan - Col. Babagul Aamal is a proud veteran of 28 years in the Afghan National Army. Short and fit, with a thick black beard, he's a leader who blurts out exactly what he's thinking.
"I don't talk politics - I talk facts," Aamal said, wearing a sweater beneath his uniform in his unheated command office on a dusty base 40 miles east of Kabul.
It shames him, Aamal said, that he is not allowed to wear his pistol when he enters the fortified gate of the new American military base next door. Though he's a brigade commander, he's required to stand before an airport-type scanner with his arms raised, almost in surrender.
Yet when Americans visit Aamal's base, they are not searched. They are offered chai tea. And they bring half a dozen soldiers armed with M-16s, so-called Guardian Angels on the lookout for "insider attacks" by Afghan soldiers.
"Afghan generals get searched by low-ranking foreign soldiers," Aamal said. "Our soldiers see this, and they feel insulted."
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More News On Afghanistan
Three Afghans dead in new blast at U.S. base in Afghan east -- Reuters
Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American -- Reuters
Afghanistan withdrawal under way as troops and equipment head home -- The Australian
Afghan service taking its toll on Diggers -- The Australian
Kazakhstan allows Afghanistan cargo transit -- PanArmenian.net
Squabbles in Garmsir -- Matthieu Aikins, New York Times
CMC, SMMC spend Christmas with servicemembers in Afghanistan -- ISAF
Prepared For The Worst In Afghanistan -- Strategy Page
Afghanistan: Questions Remain As Troops Leave -- Alex Rossi, SKY News
US military deaths at 2,040 in Afghanistan -- Khaama Press
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