Slain soldiers Aaron Smith (left) and Brandon Owens. (CNN)
PROUD OF HIMSELF: The masked Afghan tells how he used his position as a member of the police force and chose an unguarded moment to gun down young US soldiers Brandon Owens (inset top) and Aaron Smith (inset below) — the two men who were training him to be an officer. (
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A former Afghan police trainee revealed how he killed two GIs who were teaching him to be a cop — even waiting for the moment they took off their bulletproof vests to shoot them dead.
The unidentified 30-year-old man, with his face covered, confessed to CNN in a Taliban-controlled Afghan village.
He showed the Afghan police uniform he wore on Oct. 2, 2009, when he attacked the Americans, Sgt. Aaron Smith, 25, and Pfc. Brandon Owens, 21.
At the time of their deaths, the Pentagon said Smith, of Manhattan, Kan., assigned to upstate Fort Drum, NY, and Owens, of Memphis, Tenn., died in Wardak province in central Afghanistan “of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked their unit using small arms fire.”
The gunman, a father of two, revealed in chilling fashion how he was on patrol with the two men, who were training him in an effort to bolster the Afghan police and security forces.
When they reached the security of a school building, he made his move.
“They took off their body armor and put their weapons down,” he said. “At that moment, I thought it was the right time, so I took my gun and shot them.”
He also wounded three other GIs, including a captain, and managed to flee, he said.
The man said he betrayed the soldiers because he believed that other Americans were burning copies of the Koran and disrespecting it.
He said he was not enlisted by the Taliban to carry out the horrific attack. But after his escape, he was captured by Taliban fighters — because they assumed he was a loyal Afghan police officer.
After he revealed his crime to them, they brought him to a secure place, gave him a new set of clothes and eventually took him to Pakistan, where he “was welcomed very warmly, like a hero.”
He was able to return to his native country because the Taliban told him it was safe.
“They said Americans were not everywhere like they used to be,” he said. “The Taliban had brought security and I should return home. I am happy to be back in my country.”
The revelations come as the so-called green-on-blue attacks by Afghan security on GIs continue to plague US efforts to train enough local police so that the American military can safely withdraw from Afghanistan.
There has been a sharp increase in the attacks this year, alarming US officials and raising doubts about whether the withdrawal of American forces will take place in 2014, as scheduled.
There have been 51 deaths of members of the NATO coalition so far in 2012, compared with 31 last year. In addition, more than 70 coalition-force members have been wounded by Afghan police and security.
These include four Americans who were gunned down at a checkpoint in Zabul province and two British troops killed at a separate Afghan checkpoint on Sunday, authorities said.