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Posted by Editor on 22nd January 2012 at 01:18 PM
Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson comments on recent ISAF casualties in Afghanistan
Four ISAF service members were killed on January 19 in eastern Afghanistan by a member of the Afghan National Army. Six ISAF personnel died the previous day when their helicopter came down in the south of the country.

ISAF Spokesman Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson talks about both incidents.

Shotlist:
1. (00:00) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL CARSTEN JACOBSON, ISAF SPOKESMAN
"Well it is a tragic event and our thoughts are going out to the families of those service members who have lost their lives this morning. It is a tragic incident, we have to carefully look into and look into the reasons and the background which led to this incident."

2. (00:18) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL CARSTEN JACOBSON, ISAF SPOKESMAN
"Every time that an incident like this happens and a number of incidents like this have happened in recent months, they need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. We have to look at the various background that is behind these cases and we have seen a number of reasons which range really from a personal situation via a criminal activity right down to cultural differences. What we have not seen is a pattern in all these cases but they need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis."

3. (00:51) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL CARSTEN JACOBSON, ISAF SPOKESMAN
"ISAF is deeply sorrowed by the case that happened this morning in the early hours of today. However, on a daily basis we have got far more than one hundred thousand coalition soldiers training with about 300 000 soldiers and policemen, on a daily basis, on a routine basis. A lot of these units have been working together and fighting together side-by-side for a long time and trust has developed. That makes it the more necessary to look into every individual case, the reason behind it, the background behind the story, so that we can take precautionary measures be it in recruitment or in leadership, to take steps that these cases do not happen again."

4. (01:36) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL CARSTEN JACOBSON, ISAF SPOKESMAN
"We are looking into the helicopter incident that happened down in Helmand last night in which we have lost six coalition members in a very tragic incident and our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones in this incident. There are no indicators that there is a Taliban involvement in this case, we are looking at it, we are trying to find out the background behind this incident, to us it looks at the moment like a technical mistake."

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