Afghan policewoman who shot US official is Iranian, mentally unstable: Official

The policewoman who killed an American contractor in Kabul is a native Iranian who came to Afghanistan and displayed "unstable behaviour" but had no known links to militants, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The policewoman, identified as Sgt Nargas, shot 49-year-old Joseph Griffin, of Mansfield, Georgia, on Monday, in the first such shooting by a woman in a spate of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies. Nargas walked into a heavily-guarded compound in the heart of Kabul, confronted Griffin and gunned him down with a single pistol bullet.

The US-based security firm DynCorp International said on its website Griffin was a US military veteran who earlier worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States. In Kabul, he was under contract to the NATO military command to advise the Afghan police force.

Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi told a news conference that Nargas was born in Tehran, where she married an Afghan. She moved to the country 10 years ago after her husband obtained fake documents enabling her to live and work there. A mother of four in early 30s, she joined the police five years ago, held various positions and had a clean record, he said. Sediqi produced an Iranian passport which he said was found at her home.

"Her mental condition is not good," he said, describing her behaviour as "unstable". He said after she attended a recent training course in Egypt, a "foreign government" — a clear reference to Egypt — informed Afghan authorities she did not appear to be "normal".

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