Army Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the highest-ranking American officer to be killed in the Afghanistan War, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday.
The two-star general was shot and killed earlier this month by an Afghan soldier at the country’s National Military Academy in Kabul, in the latest “insider” attack since the conflict began in 2001.
{mosads}Greene’s death rekindled the debate over the Obama administration’s decision to begin drawing down U.S. forces next year and hand over security to Afghan units. Critics say Afghan forces will not be ready to handle security threats once U.S. troops depart.
Greene, 55, was an Army engineer, and previously served as deputy for acquisition and systems management at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army.
He deployed to Afghanistan this year. At the time of his death, Greene was serving as the deputy commanding general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.
He was commissioned as an Army engineer in 1980, following his graduation from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that same year.
Last week, President Obama made his only public comments on Greene’s death during a bill signing at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
“Our prayers are with the Greene family, as they are with all the gold star families and those who’ve sacrificed so much for our nation,” Obama told an audience of military service members and veterans.
He vowed the U.S. would move ahead with plans to draw down forces.
“Now, four months from now, our combat mission to Afghanistan will be complete,” the president said.
Greene is survived by his wife and two grown children, including a son who is an Army lieutenant, according to The Associated Press.