The Afghan government has downplayed a rogue soldier's claims that more Afghan army trainees are ready to launch deadly attacks against coalition soldiers.
In a video posted online by a jihadi network this week, Mohammed Rozi - an army trainee who shot and seriously wounded three Australians who were training him in Uruzgan province in November - said many of his colleagues dreamed of committing similar attacks.
Rozi, who escaped after the attack, falsely boasted in the video that he had killed 12 Australian soldiers.
But Afghan government spokesman Dr Hakim Asher says despite the claims in the video, the chances of similar attacks remains small.
"That is not a huge problem for Afghanistan. We believe that there were some mistakes and those mistakes are very few," he said.
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson agrees, saying such attacks are rare and are designed to breed mistrust.
"We have to take great care in recruitment in registering young men into the forces, but it is not systemic and it is not threatening and it will not stop our progress," he said.
Australian confidence in the mission in Afghanistan reached a new low last year when Rozi opened fire on the troops that were training him.
It was not clear what motivated the attack or whether he had been working with terrorist groups.
Now, the extensive video interview with Rozi answers some of these questions.
The video reveals the attack was carefully premeditated, with Rozi taking the time to watch his targets through binoculars before opening fire.
He said the Australian troops at the patrol base he shot were not armed.
He revealed he had initially been working alone, but was quickly taken in by the Taliban after fleeing the scene in a stolen humvee.
Rozi said he wanted to teach the troops a lesson and that Muslims in Afghanistan would not accept the presence of foreigners.
Speaking during a tour of flood-hit parts of Queensland on Saturday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the video as "disgusting propaganda".
"The fact that there's this disgusting anti-Australian propaganda anywhere in the world is offensive to me and to all Australians," she said.
"It's aimed at trust, that's exactly what it's aimed - at denting our will.
"Well no amount of propaganda is going to dent our will at getting this mission done."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott also spoke out about the video, saying Australians have every right to feel disgusted by the boasting.
He described it as a message designed to undermine Australia's confidence.
"Our enemies are trying to exaggerate their strength," he said.
The attack on the Australian soldiers in November was the third by a Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier in 2011, and came 10 days after three Australians were killed and seven were wounded when another Afghan soldier turned his weapon on his trainers.
In May, one Australian soldier was killed when a member of the ANA opened fire.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-and-national-security, defence-forces, army, world-politics, government-and-politics, afghanistan, australia First posted February 12, 2012 01:02:41 Wright By:kevin,Tags:ed hardyed hardy clothingChristian Audigier
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