ASHLEY HALL: It's been confirmed that a man who killed three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan is a soldier himself with the Afghan Army.
Report: Blue on Green war in Afghanistan
The International Security Assistance Force has named the man as Sergeant Hek Matola, a guard at the Australian base.
The hunt is still on to find the man, who authorities say acted alone.
However they still don't know if the shooter was part of the Taliban, paid or threatened by them, or whether he was simply just a disgruntled individual.
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Will Ockenden reports:
WILL OCKENDEN: Defence Minister Stephen Smith was in Vietnam when the grim news came through that five Australian soldiers had died in Afghanistan.
STEPHEN SMITH: Of all the terrible events that have come across my desk as Minister for Defence, there is no doubt that this is the worst. Such a terrible combination.
WILL OCKENDEN: Stephen Smith says the killing of the three Australian soldiers is the fourth occasion Australian forces have encountered so-called green-on-blue attacks.
STEPHEN SMITH: That brings a total of seven Australian fatalities as a result of so-called green-on-blue incidents, and some 12 woundings or casualties.
WILL OCKENDEN: The Afghan gunman responsible for the shooting is now being hunted down.
He's been identified as Sergeant Hek Matola, an Afghan Army guard at the Australian base.
STEPHEN SMITH: He is currently being chased by a joint task force involving both Afghan National Security Forces and International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF forces.
WILL OCKENDEN: Sergeant Hek Matola's motivation for the shootings is less clear.
One possibility is that he was a disgruntled individual, or that he was forced or paid by the Taliban.
It's also possible he was a Taliban insider, but Stephen Smith says we may never know.
STEPHEN SMITH: Sometimes the motivation is an ideological one, and sometimes the motivation is just a clash between individuals.
WILL OCKENDEN: Stephen Smith confirmed that Australian forces use the so-called Guardian Angel protection approach, which is armed troops who keep watch over comrades.
He says the vetting process of new Afghan Army troops is likely to be improved.
STEPHEN SMITH: That is one of the things that will clearly be looked at again.
WILL OCKENDEN: International Security Assistance Force spokesman Major Adam Wojack says Sergeant Hek Matola escaped after jumping over a fence and running away.
He also doesn't know Sergeant Hek Matola's personal motivation for the killings, but says there are several theories for the spike in insider killings in recent times.
ADAM WOJACK: We believe that one of those was the annual Muslim holiday, Ramadan, the 30 day holiday of daily fasts. That could have played a factor because it began mid-July, ended mid-August, and that was the period where we experienced this spike of insider attacks, which a lot of you are familiar with as green on blues.
And also we think another possibility is desperation on the part of the opposition, the Taliban. The Afghan National Security Forces are taking the lead in so many areas, and there are so many of them out there, almost 350,000.
WILL OCKENDEN: Major Adam Wojack says more cultural training for ISAF soldiers can't hurt.
But John Cantwell, former commander of Australian Forces in Afghanistan, says cultural clashes aren't an issue.
JOHN CANTWELL: I think we are remarkably effective in showing respect for those people who we are trying to help.
WILL OCKENDEN: John Cantwell says it's hard to find out the real reasons.
JOHN CANTWELL: Afghan men are proud. They do not like being told they're wrong. They particularly don't like it in front of others, and sometimes they need to be told they're wrong, and they don't like it and they bear a grudge sometimes.
There are those who simply are coerced or even paid to do these sorts of things. The Afghan soldiers aren't paid a lot of money and there are cases that have been described to me of coercion and bribery being a component - not that affect Australians, this is more broadly.
And it may well be that sometimes they'll take offence at something that a Westerner does somewhere. It only requires one incident that is alleged to involve a desecration of the Holy Koran or something similar, emotions are whipped up in an instant. And we've seen in Uruzgan Province itself quite violent protests and riots as a result. Those same sentiments can affect the Afghan soldiers.
WILL OCKENDEN: Terrorism expert, Clive Williams, from Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, says insider attacks are a particular problem for Afghanistan.
CLIVE WILLIAMS: General Allen says that - who's the commander of ISAF - says that his estimate at the moment is around about 25 per cent of the attacks are Taliban linked. Last year it was about 10 per cent.
I think what's happened is that the Taliban have seen it has being a good way of driving a wedge between ISAF and the Afghan National Security Forces, so they're putting a lot more emphasis on it now and encouraging people.
WILL OCKENDEN: No matter what the reasons, the Taliban uses insider attacks as a propaganda tool.
BILL SPEAKS: It is expected that they will try and make a propaganda victory of something like this regardless of what the facts are.
WILL OCKENDEN: The Pentagon says the reasons for half of insider attacks on ISAF forces are unknown.
Spokesman, Commander Bill Speaks, says it's worrying that the number of attacks are rising.
BILL SPEAKS: They have increased their force protection measures considerably. We have also seen a number of measures taken by our Afghan partners to improve their efforts in weeding out elements within their forces who may be a threat.
I should also note that their own forces are also victimised by insider attacks, in fact more so than Coalition forces.
ASHLEY HALL: Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Speaks, ending Will Ockenden's report.
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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
