Afghanistan blames foreign agencies

KABUL -- The Afghan government blamed foreign spy agencies Wednesday for a rising number of killings by government soldiers and policemen gunning down their international partners, and ordered stricter vetting of recruits and screening of those in the 350,000-member Afghan security force.

The United States had no information suggesting that the insider attacks were the work of foreign intelligence services, a senior U.S. defense official said.

Instead, he said attacks typically are carried out by Afghans acting on their own, although some might have had help, on occasion, from insurgent networks.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence information about the attacks.

President Hamid Karzai summoned members of his national security council to the palace for an unscheduled meeting about members of the Afghan security forces or militants wearing their uniforms increasingly turning their weapons on foreign troops.

So far this year, there have been 32 such attacks against coalition forces, resulting in 40 deaths, according to the NATO military alliance. That's up from 21 attacks and 35 killed for all of 2011.

Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said the foreign agencies were trying to undermine, confidence in the Afghan security forces. "The investigation done so far shows there's definite infiltration by foreign spy agencies," he said.

Asked whether the foreign spy agencies suspected included those from neighboring countries, Faizi added, "Neighboring countries included, but I don't want to name any country."

In the past, intelligence agencies in Iran and Pakistan have been accused of enabling Afghan insurgents to destabilize the country.