CAMP SPANN, Afghanistan | A training exercise this month erupted into a deadly gunfight between Afghan and U.S. instructors, illustrating the problems officials face in preparing the Afghan soldiers and police officers for the drawdown of U.S. troops next year.
What's more, the July 20 incident at the Regional Mass Training Center at Camp Shaheen, about 10 miles east of Mazar-e Sharif, was the second fatal shooting this month of Westerners by their Afghan counterparts.
According to Afghan armyLt. Col. Mohammed Naem, the media officer at Camp Shaheen, Afghan army recruits were participating in a training exercise when an argument erupted between an Afghan enlisted man named Jafar and a U.S. contractor who worked for Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI).
The men were skilled weapons trainers and friends, said Col. Naem, who works frequently with NATO public affairs personnel.
"The MPRI guy raised his fist and was yelling obscenities at [Jafar]," he said. "Jafar steps back, and his sidearm ... accidentally falls to the ground."
A U.S. soldier standing nearby witnessed the quarrel and, thinking Jafar was reaching for his pistol to harm the MPRI instructor, "unloads a magazine" into Jafar, killing him and wounding another, Col. Naem said.
An Afghan recruit saw the U.S. soldier shoot Jafar and, in retaliation, shot the soldier and another MPRI contractor, the media officer said. Other trainees rushed to the area and, seeing the Afghan recruit standing amid the carnage, drew their weapons and opened fire, killing the recruit.
In the end, two American contractors and two Afghans were killed, and one U.S. soldier and one Afghan were wounded.
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