Mattis says Afghan forces increasing vetting to avoid insider attacks

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis lands in Kabul on March 13, 2018 on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan. REUTERS/Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who recently visited Kabul, said on Tuesday that the Afghan government was increasing the vetting and training of local forces in order to minimize so-called insider attacks.

A U.S. service member was killed in an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan earlier this month and a member of a U.S. army training unit was shot dead by an Afghan soldier in the southern province of Uruzgan in July.