Afghan soldier who killed four forged papers - twice

By Jon Stephensonand Ali Safi

McClatchy Newspapers

MAHMUD RAQI, Afghanistan

The Afghan soldier who killed four French troops last month had bribed an Afghan army recruiter to forge his enlistment papers, deserted to Pakistan and then bribed his way back into the army the month before the shootings.

The apparent ease with which a rogue soldier twice circumvented the Afghan National Army's vetting process - with the aid of a corrupt recruiter whose job it is to stop such applicants - suggests that the U.S.-led coalition still cannot be certain of the integrity of the Afghan security forces.

The United States is entrusting the country to them as American troops end their combat mission, perhaps as soon as next year.

The Jan. 20 shooting spree in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, caused outrage in France and prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce that French combat forces would withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2013, a year earlier than scheduled.

Cmdr. Abdul Musahiwal, police chief of Musahi district of southern Kabul province, said the shooter was a 21-year-old second lieutenant named Abdul Saboor. Daulat Waziri, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, confirmed Saboor's identity but declined to discuss details because the investigation was ongoing.

In a copy of an Afghan Defense Ministry interrogation report, Saboor described how, in April, he approached an Afghan army recruiter, who offered to prepare enlistment papers and a fake national ID card for a bribe of 500 afghanis, about $10.

Saboor was sent to a training center and then deployed with the 6th Battalion, 4th Brigade of the 203rd Tandar Corps, according to the interrogation report. He deserted eight months later and went to Peshawar. What he did in Pakistan was unclear.

When he returned to Afghanistan, he found his way back into the army in December with the aid of the same recruiter in Kabul, he told interrogators. The recruiter knew he was a deserter, but after Saboor paid him 800 afghanis, about $16, he was again furnished with fake papers and found himself back in the army.

McClatchy was unable to independently verify the contents of the document, but it appeared to be authentic. Waziri, the defense spokesman, would not comment on McClatchy's findings but defended the government's screening process for army recruits.