KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is in stable condition this morning after being shot by Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a joint press conference on plans to reduce "green-on-blue" incidents. Though an initial press release from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) described Panetta's assailant as a "man in an Afghan President's uniform," those who witnessed the shooting live on CNN harbor few doubts that the shooter was actually Karzai.
The attack is the latest in a series of green-on-blue incidents, in which coalition forces are shot by their Afghan allies, making a total of 32 incidents in 2012 alone, with the year far from over. They have produced a total of 39 fatalities and numerous other injuries, in what the Pentagon has referred to as "a baffling pattern of freak accidents and misunderstandings."
According to reporters on the scene, Panetta was giving a speech on his continuing faith in the Karzai government's ability to end green-on-blue incidents, and the ability of the coalition to overcome the Taliban together and bring peace to Afghanistan.
He had just turned over the microphone to his "great friend, President Hamid Karzai."
