Taliban behind quarter of insider attacks

The Taliban is involved in a quarter of Afghan security personnel attacks on NATO colleagues, according to a NATO military commander.

The surge of assaults, unprecedented in modern warfare, have seen Afghan troops opening fire on their NATO colleagues more than 30 times this year, killing at least 45 foreign troops, most of them Americans.

US Lieutenant General James Terry, head of the NATO-led coalition's joint command in Afghanistan, said about 25 to 26 per cent of the attacks were "insurgent-related".

In an overnight briefing to reporters in Washington via video link from Afghanistan, he said 10 per cent of attacks are "directly connected" to insurgents and classified 15 per cent as "insurgent-associated".

"In other words, there's some indication there as soldiers commit the offences, they escape from the area," he said.

"There's some insurgent facilitation that ... that helps them. So that's where you get the 25 per cent from, and that's the insurgent involvement."

He said officials did not know the exact cause of the remaining attacks, but estimated another 25 per cent were "personal", which he admitted could be eased by greater understanding of cultural sensitivities.

"I would just say that what we all recognise is that this is a society that's really been traumatised by 30-plus years of war," he said.

"And we also understand that a lot of grievances and dispute resolutions are done, frankly, at the barrel of a gun out there."

The Afghan government said on Wednesday it had arrested or sacked hundreds of its soldiers in a bid to stem a trend that threatens to undermine Western plans for a troop withdrawal.

A US-based group urged the Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to appoint independent and experienced human rights experts to seats on a national commission left vacant for nine months.

But Karzai had announced plans not to reappoint three members.

HRW said a fourth seat was also vacant after the commissioner responsible for children's rights was killed with her family in a suicide attack in January 2011.

HRW last week urged Karzai not to appoint cabinet minister Asadullah Khalid as head of the National Directorate of Security.

He has been accused of torture, drug-trafficking and corruption.