Afghan teenager fatally stabs US soldier

Only one U.S. service member was killed in February, but the death toll climbed to at least 14 in March. The recent stabbing reveals the ongoing danger to troops, even as full withdrawal approaches.

By Kim Gamel,?Associated Press / April 1, 2013

U.S. Army and Air Force officers pray beside the remains of Army Sgt. Michael Cable at Dover Air Force Base, Del., March 28. An Afghan teenager killed Cable in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck while he played with a group of local children, officials announced today.

Cliff Owen / AP

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An Afghan teenager fatally stabbed an American soldier in the neck as he played with children in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday, as the U.S. death toll rose sharply last month with an uptick in fighting due to warmer weather.

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Last week's calculated attack shows that international troops still face myriad dangers even though they are increasingly taking a back seat in operations with Afghan forces ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2014.

Just one U.S. service member was killed in February ? a five-year monthly low ? but the American death toll climbed to at least 14 in March.

Overall, the number of Americans and other foreign forces killed in Afghanistan has fallen as their role shifts more toward training and advising government troops instead of fighting.

But a series of so-called insider attacks on foreign troops by Afghan forces of insurgents disguised as them has threatened to undermine the trust needed to help President Hamid Karzai's government take the lead in securing the country after more than 11 years at war.

The attack that killed Sgt. Michael Cable, 26, of Philpot, Ky., last Wednesday occurred after the soldiers had secured an area for a meeting of U.S. and Afghan officials in a province near the volatile border with Pakistan.

But one of two senior U.S. officials who confirmed that Cable had been stabbed by a young man said the assailant was not believed to have been in uniform so it was not being classified as an insider attack.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the attacker was thought to be about 16 years old. He escaped so his age couldn't be verified.

Cable's brother Raymond Johnston, a 42-year-old waiter in Owensboro, Ky., said the Army told the family the basics of what happened and that his brother was stabbed in the neck from behind.

Johnston said his brother, who also did a tour of duty in Iraq, was "prepared before he left for anything that happened" in Afghanistan.

Cable met individually with Johnston and three other family members before leaving for Afghanistan and had similar conversations with each ? that the deployment was extremely hazardous and that his family and friends should "continue to enjoy life" if he was killed.

"He was able to communicate to the family about if the worst was supposed to happen, what we were supposed to do," Johnston said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/iJPBbs2OIOY/Afghan-teenager-fatally-stabs-US-soldier

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