[Baldwin:] Green on blue attacks. That phrase probably meant absolutely nothing to you just a couple of months ago, but then dozens of U.S. troops were gunned down this year by Afghan forces they helped train. And a veteran who served in Afghanistan says these insider attacks, he says they are nothing new and maybe the U.S. should have re-examined its relationship with Afghanistan a long, long time ago. He is Brandon Caro. He joins me live from New York. Brandon, thanks for coming on. I appreciate it.
[Brandon Caro, Combat Adviser To Afghan Troops In 2006-2007:] Thank you, Brooke.
[Baldwin:] I read your article earlier in the week from the "Daily Beast," and thought, my goodness. The way you describe it, it's chilling, that these memories you have of the first green on blue attack that you actually heard about back in 2007 as a combat adviser in Afghanistan, can you take me back there and share that?
[Caro:] OK, so actually where the prison is it's a camp called Black Horse to the Americans. There was an Afghan National Army soldier guarding the outer perimeter checkpoint of the base. Two soldiers, Colonel Harrison and Master Sergeant Roburto, were shot by the soldier as they were leaving the compound. They both died from their injuries. That was as far as I know the first green on blue attack recorded.
[Baldwin:] And as we keep talking about this, I had a father on not too long ago, Brandon, just absolutely heartbroken over his son who died, his Marine son. He was 21. He was killed on one of these green on blue attacks and he told me, I just want to play a little of the sound. He told that over the phone with his father, his son predicted his own death. Take a listen.
[Greg Buckley Sr., 21-year-old Son Was Shot Dead By Afghan:] I'm done inside. They tore my whole heart out. I have a hard time going to bed. I think about him every day, every minute. His brothers kill me when I look at them because they're hurt. His mom is hurt so bad. But they didn't just take my son. They destroyed my family and I don't want another family to feel the pain I'm feeling. I don't want to see another family out there se their son being brought back on a plane and being rolled off a plane in a box. This boy should have been protected inside a military base. We're training people and my son said, we're training people that are going to turn the weapons on us and kill us.
[Baldwin:] It's tough to listen to that interview, but I thought it was important to replay it. It hits home I think part of your point. You had similar experiences. You figured out quickly that these Afghan soldiers you were training, Brandon, could be, you know, a potential threat and they might turn around and kill you and you talk specifically about cell phones. Why were cell phones such a big clue?
[Caro:] Well, when we would go out on patrols or convoys, we would have to line up the ANA soldiers and take their phones away because we didn't trust them not to inform on us to Taliban or al Qaeda operatives, whomever.
[Baldwin:] Didn't trust them even though you're training them. You had to take their phones away.
[Caro:] We had to take their phones away. This was as early as 2007. By the time I got there in 2006, this was already policy.
[Baldwin:] So what about now? Because our troops have been in Afghanistan for a decade, why
[Caro:] Right.
[Baldwin:] Why are these insider attacks on the rise now? I don't know if it's a cultural thing. What's changed?
[Caro:] Well, that's the interesting question. Why are the attacks on the rise now? Because we've been working hand in hand with the Afghans for over 10 years so why now are we seeing this sudden rise in deaths? Does it have anything to do with the scheduled withdrawal of troops in 2014 of American forces and how the Afghan national army soldiers, what they're going to do when the Americans leave? Are they trying to set themselves up potentially with whomever is going to be in control of the country? Because we know it's not going to be us. And it's there's going to be a real power struggle I feel after the Americans leave in 2014.
[Baldwin:] Brandon, what about this debate tonight? We're going to be hearing from Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. And, you know, any kind of question, foreign policy, domestic policy, et cetera, can be thrown at them. What do you want to hear from them? How should we be protecting our troops?
[Caro:] That's a great question. And I don't have the answer, because here's the position we're in. We have to per our mission, we have to prepare these forces as best we can before we leave the country and in order to do that we have to put people in harm's way. But at the same time, we have to protect our men and women in uniform. We can't put them in positions where they could be sabotaged, attacked from behind. It just is not fair and it is not right. It's one thing to tell a platoon of Marines to take this hill even if there are machine guns on the hill. It's quite another thing to tell that same platoon to train up a bunch of soldiers that could very likely turn the weapons on them.
[Baldwin:] Like what happened with Greg Buckley Jr.
[Caro:] Exactly what happened with Greg Buckley Jr., with Colonel Harrison, with Master Sergeant Roberto. I think the number is at 53 for the year so far.
[Baldwin:] Brandon, sadly, I think this conversation will have to continue here. Brandon Caro, I hope you join me again. We will wait and see what Ryan and Biden may say about this tonight. I appreciate it.
[Caro:] Thanks for having me.