Killer of US general had no links to Taliban

KABUL operative, a military investigation report said on Thursday.

Released by US Central Command (CENTCOM), the report said: “Nothing has yet materialised that conclusively links the shooter to any plots, plans or person of interest.”

Rafiqullah killed the 55-year-old two-star general in Kabul in August. Army Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene was the highest-ranking US officer to be killed in combat since 1970.

The Afghan soldier opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle from a window overlooking an outdoor gathering of Greene and other high-ranking officials at Marshal Fahim National Defense University.

“Rafiqullah positioned himself in a bathroom, in direct view of the gathering, stuck the barrel of his M16 rifle out of the bathroom window and fired approximately 27-30 rounds into the crowd,” the report said.

Security arrangements for the visit by Greene and other senior officers were not as well-coordinated as they should have been, the report said. There was no comprehensive plan that incorporated all participating security elements.

It added the incident could not have been reasonably foreseen or prevented, appearing as an isolated act of a determined shooter without indicators or warnings.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the insider attack was not premeditated and that the shooter might have been ill or a self-radicalised.

Gen. Greene died immediately after being shot multiple times in the pelvis, head and neck. The 18 others wounded included German Army Brig. Gen. Michael Bartscher and Afghan Brig. Gen. Miyan-Yar Ghulam Sakhi.

PAN Monitor/mud

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