KABUL, Afghanistan The fatal shooting of three Americans in a charity hospital Thursday punctuated a dismal new trend that has emerged in the waning months of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan: Just as many foreign civilians are being killed as troops.
The brazen attack by a police officer at the CURE International hospital in Kabul, which serves 37,000 Afghans a year, shocked even this war-weary city and seemed likely to diminish the already dwindling population of foreigners working in the capital.
At least 22 foreign civilians have been killed this year in attacks on nonmilitary targets, including a Lebanese restaurant, a luxury hotel and foreign journalists covering preparations for the April 5 presidential election. The toll matches the number of U.S.-led coalition troops who have died this year, although nine of those fatalities resulted from non-hostile incidents.
As international forces accelerate their withdrawal, Afghan soldiers and police officers have taken on the brunt of security responsibilities. The Taliban and its sympathizers, meanwhile, have infiltrated those forces to perpetrate "insider" attacks against international troops.
Now some worry that insurgents have altered their tactics, electing to hit lightly guarded targets to keep pressure on Western countries even though their remaining military forces including about 30,000 American soldiers are stationed far from the front lines.
"They can be seen as the soft underbelly of the intervention, an easy way to hit Western governments rather than trying to fight well-armed NATO forces, and potentially a highly effective way of driving foreign aid and influence out of Afghanistan," Kate Clark, country director for the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research organization, wrote recently.
The Taliban denied responsibility for Thursday's shooting, just as they did early this month after a police officer shot two Associated Press journalists who were part of a convoy of election workers in Khowst province, in eastern Afghanistan.
The attack Thursday occurred about 9:30 a.m. in west Kabul at what has become one of the capital's leading medical facilities. Established in 2005 by CURE International, a Pennsylvania-based Christian charity that runs hospitals and health programs in 29 countries, the hospital specializes in maternal and child health. It also treats birth defects such as fistula and cleft lip and trains Afghan doctors, nurses and midwives.
That staff Thursday found itself treating its own colleagues and the gunman, who shot himself. He was turned over to Afghan authorities.
Hospital officials identified one of the victims as Dr. Jerry Umanos, who divided his practice between Kabul and Lawndale Christian Health Center in Chicago. In 2005, Umanos and his wife, Jan, moved to Afghanistan, where he was coordinating one of the country's only training programs for doctors, according to a profile on Lawndale's website.
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Killing of Americans at Kabul hospital highlights foreigners' risk