Afghan policeman kills 3 American troops in third attack this week

New post: Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Adam Elkus "The anti-social network: How al-Qaeda survives" (FP).

Attacked again

In the third apparent ‘green-on-blue’ attack this week, a man in an Afghan Local Police (ALP) uniform shot and killed three American troops Thursday night in the southern province of Helmand (CBS, AP, BBC, AFP, NYT, Reuters). Some reports said the suspect was the commander of a local police checkpoint who had personally invited the troops to a dinner at his home. The New America Foundation maintains a database of all green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration said Thursday that a USAID employee was killed in a suicide attack in Kunar Province on Wednesday (AP). The parents of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told the Associated Press on Thursday that President Barack Obama had called them over Memorial Day weekend to assure them that the U.S. government is doing all it can to free their son, who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 (AP).

Persecution at home?

Around 60 Hindu families living in Balochistan and Sindh Provinces have reportedly decided to immigrate to India because they say they are increasingly being targeted for their faith, as unknown attackers raid their homes, loot their shops, and forcibly convert Hindu women to Islam (ET). Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has dismissed the reports as "propaganda." Pakistani authorities implemented special security measures on Friday as Shi’a Muslims across the country observed the annual Shi’a holiday Youm-i-Ali to commemorate the death of Hazrat Ali, who they consider to be the first Imam of the Muslim Caliphate after the death of Prophet Mohammad (ET).

Unknown attackers on a motorbike in Balochistan Provincce opened fire on a NATO container bound for Afghanistan on Friday, injuring the truck driver and a cleaner, before setting fire to the supply container (Dawn). And dozens of insurgents from Afghanistan crossed the border into Pakistan’s Upper Dir on Thursday, launching an attack on a security check post that left two Pakistani security personnel and some nine militants dead (ET).

Pakistan and Iran at last agreed on a barter deal in which Pakistan will export one million tons of wheat to Iran in exchange for fertilizer and iron ore (Reuters). Negotiations over the price of wheat had been deadlocked for months.

Silver lining

Believed by many to have been Pakistan’s chance at Olympic glory, the Pakistani men’s field hockey team was destroyed by Australia on Tuesday (). But the team’s coach, Khwaja Junaid, took solace in the fact that although Pakistan came in a disappointing 7^th place, rival India was still fighting to take the 11^th place spot.

— Jennifer Rowland