For 20th Time This Year, Afghan Soldier Strikes NATO

A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot dead a US service member in the east of the country, one of two NATO troops killed today, military officials said. NATO didn't officially disclose the nationality of the victim, but a senior US defense official said he was an American soldier. The Taliban took credit for the attack, though the Taliban regularly takes credit for attacks they were not involved in.

It was the 20th incident this year in which Afghan soldiers or insurgents disguised in military uniforms have turned their weapons on foreign troops. The pace of such attacks is accelerating; there were only 21 attacks all last year and 11 in 2010. What's more, the coalition does not report those attacks in which an Afghan wounds or misses his target. US officials say that in most cases the rogue soldiers are motivated not by sympathy for the Taliban, but rather by personal grievances. (More Taliban stories.)