American General Killed in Shooting at Afghan Military Academy

iStock/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Maj. Gen. Harold Greene has been identified as the U.S. Army official killed in an attack Tuesday morning at a military academy in Afghanistan.

Greene was a two star major general, the first American general to be killed in the Afghan war, and the highest ranking officer to die from hostile fire since the Vietnam war. He was deployed to Afghanistan in January, according to the Pentagon’s website.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform opened fire on Americans and others Afghans at Camp Qargha, a military academy 11 miles west of Kabul. The camp trains hundreds of Afghan forces a month and was recently renamed the Marshal Fahim National Defense University for the country’s deceased vice president.

Fifteen others were injured, including eight Americans, all of whom are expected to live. The other wounded included Germans.

Rear Adm. John Kirby said the shooter was believed to be an Afghan soldier.

Tuesday’s shooting is the latest in a string of so-called “green-on-blue” attacks in Afghanistan, in which members of the Afghan forces have attacked U.S. and coalition forces. There have been more than 85 green-on-blue attacks during the war, though they have become less frequent this year as fewer U.S. troops have been on the ground in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and noted that both Afghan and foreign soldiers were hurt.

“The soldiers were visiting the military academy to help with the buildup of Afghan security forces,” Karzai said.

He blamed the attack on “enemies who don’t want to see Afghanistan have strong institutions.”

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