Gunman Kills American at Kabul CIA Office

 

An Afghan employee killed one American and wounded another at Central Intelligence Agency offices in Kabul, Western security officials said Monday, an attack that called attention to U.S. security concerns about reliance on local partners. The two Americans came under fire late Sunday by a lone Afghan employee in an annex of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said embassy spokesman Gavin Sundwall. U.S. officials in Washington said the shooting occurred at an annex housing the CIA's offices. A Western security official in Kabul said the Afghan attacker had the trust of CIA employees in the compound, and may have been working for them as an informant, which is why he was allowed into the annex and had access to a gun. The official added that the gunman may have accessed the roof of the CIA building and fired on the nearby embassy building. Mr. Sundwall couldn't comment on whether the gunman fired on the embassy, or was searched before entering the building. In a sign of the often deep distrust between U.S. forces and their Afghan counterparts, CIA-employed guards, believing an Afghan army vehicle near the scene was the source of the attack, fired on the patrol, the Western security official said. Afghan soldiers in the vehicle shot back, wounding a guard; return fire injured two Afghan soldiers. Mr. Sundwall and a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry declined to comment on the incident. Investigators from the State Department, the CIA, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing the attack. On Monday, U.S. officials said they were trying to determine the role of the Afghan gunman and his motives. Officials say they hadn't turned up evidence of terrorist links. Officials said it wasn't clear whether the gunman was targeting the annex because of its CIA affiliation. Another security official near the scene of the shooting said he heard initial gunfire from an M4-carbine, a weapon popular with the U.S. Army, and that he believed the gunman had access to U.S. weapons and was using an American rifle, as opposed to an AK-47, the firearm of choice for insurgents and many Afghan security forces. Afghan police and intelligence services were deployed to the site of the shooting, witnesses said; Afghan officials say they weren't able to enter the location. One witness said the nearby headquarters of the U.S.-led military coalition deployed a quick-reaction force. A coalition spokesman said the coalition had no role in the response to the attack. Gunfire was heard at about 8:15 p.m. Kabul time, followed by an explosion, more gunfire and then two more explosions about 15 minutes later, witnesses nearby said. A Taliban spokesman said on Monday that he couldn't say whether the insurgent group was responsible for the attack. The attack was the latest in which Afghans have turned on their international colleagues. This year, over two dozen coalition troops have been killed by Afghan police and soldiers in heated disputes and by insurgents infiltration. In December 2009, seven high-ranking U.S. intelligence officials were killed by a Jordanian informant at a major CIA base in eastern Khost province. The informant detonated a powerful bomb while meeting with the intelligence officials. He wasn't searched before entering the compound. With the bulk of international forces slated to withdraw by 2014, the U.S. is striving to buildup an Afghan government and security force that can manage the country independently. But the U.S.-led coalition has struggled to cope with insurgents infiltrating the Afghan army and police. So far this year, Afghan soldiers and police have killed more than two dozen international troops working alongside them, the majority American service members. In one of the biggest incidents, last April an Afghan air force pilot serving for 20 years gunned down eight U.S. Air Force officers and a military contractor at an airport in Kabul. The attacker had no known link to insurgent groups, investigators said. The attack came about a week after an Afghan soldier wearing a suicide vest blew himself up at a military base, killing six U.S. soldiers and four Afghans. An internal coalition report seen by The Wall Street Journal in June said Afghan security force members shooting down and killing their American counterparts is becoming a "rapidly growing systemic threat." The report interviewed some 600 Afghans and concluded that there is a "crisis of trust" within the coalition that was being ignored by top commanders. A spokeswoman for the coalition played down the report, labeling it "sensationalism." Sunday night's attack came less than two weeks after Afghan insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at the U.S. Embassy from a nearby building. About a half-dozen rockets penetrated the embassy's fortified walls and several more hit within the U.S.-led military coalition's headquarters in Kabul. The attack lasted for about 20 hours. No U.S. citizens were killed in that attack. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, blamed the Haqqani network last week for orchestrating the embassy attack. Speaking before the U.S. Congress, Adm. Mullen called the Haqqani network a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's military spy agency. Pakistan's government denies having any links with insurgents. Mr. Sundwall couldn't comment on whether the Afghan gunman was linked to the Haqqani network and wouldn't speculate on the motivation of Sunday night's attack.

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