The Afghan soldier who murdered a two-star US Army general failed to turn in his NATO-issued assault rifle after a patrol and lay in wait in a bathroom with the weapon before his deadly ambush, Afghan authorities said.
The killer, who went by the single name Rafiqullah, killed Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, the highest-ranking US officer to be killed in overseas combat since 1970 in Vietnam.
The gunman also wounded at least 15 others, including a German general and two Afghan generals, before he was shot dead, an Afghan official told AP.
But Rafiqullah’s motive for the insider attack remained unclear Wednesday as American officials prepared to fly the upstate New York native’s body back to the US.
Rafiqullah, in his early 20s, had joined the Afghan army more than two years ago and came from the country’s eastern Paktia province — a hotbed of anti-American hostility, the Afghan official said.
The province is known to harbor fighters from the Haqqani network, which has strong links to the Taliban and launches frequent attacks against US and other coalition forces.
The Taliban praised Tuesday’s attack, and had repeatedly urged Afghan soldiers to launch such “insider attacks” on coalition troops.
On Tuesday, Rafiqullah had just returned from a patrol around the greater Camp Qargha, west of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Others on patrol with Rafiqullah turned in their rifles, but Rafiqullah kept his and hid in a bathroom, the official said.
Rafiqullah opened fire when the general and the others walked into view, he said.
About half of the wounded in Tuesday’s attack at Marshal Fahim National Defense University were Americans, and several were in serious condition.
There was no indication that Greene — an engineer on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan — was specifically targeted, a US official said.
In a statement, NATO said Greene’s body was being prepared Wednesday to be flown to the US via Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Maj. Gen. Greene’s family, and the families of our soldiers who were injured yesterday in the tragic events that took place in Kabul,” NATO said. “These soldiers were professionals, committed to the mission.”
Camp Qargha is sometimes called “Sandhurst in the Sand” — referring to the famed British military academy — because British forces oversaw building the officer school and its training program.
The attack underscored the tensions that persist as the US and NATO troops’ combat role winds down in Afghanistan.
Greene — who was raised in Schenectady and was known as Harry — rose through the ranks as an expert in developing and fielding the Army’s war materiel.
The Army’s top soldier, Gen. Ray Odierno, issued a statement late Tuesday saying the Army’s thoughts and prayers were with Greene’s wife and two children as well as the families of those injured in the attack.
In a 34-year career that began at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Greene earned a reputation as an inspiring leader with a sense of humility.
He had been in Afghanistan since January, serving as deputy commander of a support command called the Combined Security Transition Command, in Kabul.
At the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Greene was serving at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and when the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, he was a student at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Greene flourished in the less glamorous side of the Army that develops, tests, builds and supplies soldiers with equipment and technology.
It is a difficult job during wartime, since unconventional or unanticipated battlefield challenges, like roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, call for urgent improvements in equipment.
In 2009-2011, for example, he served as deputy commanding general of the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command and senior commander of the Natick Soldier System Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland.
During that tour of duty, he gained the rank of brigadier general, and at his promotion ceremony in December 2009, he was lauded for his leadership skills and ability to inspire those around him.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes applauded Greene for a “sense of self, a sense of humility” and an exemplary work ethic, according to an account of the promotion ceremony published by the Times Union of Albany.
“In every job I had, we got things done that I think made our Army better, and it was done by other people,” Greene was quoted as saying. “All I did was try to pull people in the right direction and they went out and did great things.”
Greene and his wife, Susan, lived in the Washington suburb of Falls Church, Virginia, where neighbors recalled he would often go for morning runs, The Washington Post reported.
The Greenes’ son Matthew also is in the Army and their daughter, Amelia, recently graduated from Binghamton University in New York.
Greene earned a bachelor of science degree in materials engineering and a master’s degree in industrial engineering, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
He later studied at the University of Southern California and also attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth, Kansas.
In 2010, he spoke at the opening of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center, a research facility at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with the mission of improving the Army’s understanding of social, information and communication networks, according to the Army’s account of the event.
“We’re in a fight now with an enemy that’s a little bit different and uses different techniques … and networks are a key part of that,” Greene said.
He said finding patterns in the tactics of insurgents was difficult because of the way networks evolve and otherwise change. So the goal was to bring to light the patterns and determine how to anticipate and influence the actions of insurgents.
“The enemy is every bit as good as we are at using that network to our detriment so this is essential work, this is about defending our country,” Greene said.
“You must know that there is a direct application on the battlefield and we’re using it today, but we don’t really understand it yet so this is a critical element.”
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