Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture, Kill Insurgents

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2010 — Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al Tal­iban insur­gents in Kan­da­har province yes­ter­day, includ­ing a Tal­iban com­man­der who car­ried out attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and coali­tion forces in Kan­da­har City, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty forces tar­get­ed a com­pound in Arghandab dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. 

After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the com­man­der along with sev­er­al of his associates. 

Dur­ing this oper­a­tion — as in all oth­ers — Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces made it a pri­or­i­ty to pro­tect women and children. 

In oth­er Afghanistan news yesterday: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed Azizul­lah, a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der who oper­at­ed main­ly in Log­ar province, dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Pak­ti­ka province. Azizul­lah was con­nect­ed to the July kid­nap­ping and deaths of two US sailors. Addi­tion­al­ly, a Tal­iban impro­vised explo­sive device man­u­fac­tur­er was among sev­er­al insur­gents detained dur­ing the oper­a­tion. Intel­li­gence report­ing led the secu­ri­ty force to a remote com­pound in Sha­ran dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. As the secu­ri­ty force approached, sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als ran from the com­pound. The secu­ri­ty force tracked and peace­ful­ly detained them. Addi­tion­al­ly, the assault force killed an insur­gent hid­ing in a ditch after he threat­ened the secu­ri­ty force. The secu­ri­ty force lat­er iden­ti­fied him as Azizul­lah. After the area was secure, Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then the com­bined force secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al more insur­gents. The secu­ri­ty force also found mul­ti­ple Tal­iban pro­pa­gan­da videos at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Hel­mand province, includ­ing a Tal­iban com­man­der oper­at­ing in Nawah-ye Barakzai dis­trict. The com­man­der ter­ror­ized the local pop­u­la­tion by con­duct­ing impro­vised explo­sives device attacks and kid­nap­ping Afghan civil­ians. Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces have degrad­ed the Nawah Tal­iban net­work through sev­er­al recent oper­a­tions result­ing in the cap­ture of sev­er­al high-lev­el com­man­ders with­in the net­work. The tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual was being con­sid­ered to replace the for­mer Nawah-ye Barakzai dis­trict com­man­der, who was detained by an Afghan-led force in August. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a remote series of com­pounds in Mar­jah dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. As the secu­ri­ty force approached one of the tar­get­ed com­pounds, sev­er­al insur­gents ran from the com­pound. The secu­ri­ty force pur­sued and detained them peace­ful­ly. Once the area was secured, Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After con­duct­ing ini­tial ques­tion­ing with the res­i­dents at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained addi­tion­al insurgents. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in Badghis province, includ­ing a Tal­iban sub-com­man­der oper­at­ing in Qal’ah-ye Now dis­trict, who is respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces. Based on intel­li­gence infor­ma­tion, the secu­ri­ty force inter­dict­ed sev­er­al vehi­cles in Qadis dis­trict to search for the Tal­iban com­man­der. They secured the area and sub­se­quent­ly searched an asso­ci­at­ed tent. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the com­man­der and five of his associates. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces detained two sus­pect­ed Tal­iban insur­gents in Log­ar province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban com­man­der respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces, includ­ing indi­rect fire attacks against For­ward Oper­at­ing Base Shank. Intel­li­gence reports led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Khan­shirin in Charkh dis­trict to search for the commander. 

Afghan and coali­tion forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pound peace­ful­ly and then secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Forces con­firmed one Afghan civil­ian was killed by an ISAF ser­vice­mem­ber in the Ali Sheng dis­trict of Lagh­man province. An inves­ti­ga­tion is ongo­ing into the cir­cum­stances of the man’s death. “We take alle­ga­tions of civil­ian casu­al­ties very seri­ous­ly and we will con­duct a thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion of this iso­lat­ed inci­dent,” said Maj. Patrick Seiber, Com­bined Joint Task Force-101 and Region­al Com­mand-East spokesman. “We make every effort to ensure the pro­tec­tion of Afghan civil­ians and will take the steps nec­es­sary to pre­vent an inci­dent like this from hap­pen­ing again in the future.” 

In Sept. 25 Afghanistan news: 

— Coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike in Kunar province tar­get­ing an al-Qai­da senior com­man­der who coor­di­nates the attacks of a group of Arab fight­ers in Kunar and Nuris­tan province. The al-Qai­da facil­i­ta­tors and extrem­ists he works with through­out the Mid­dle East direct­ly threat­en the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty of Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials and civil­ians. He rou­tine­ly facil­i­tates the trav­el of for­eign fight­ers into the region. The commander’s old­er broth­er was killed in a coali­tion force pre­ci­sion strike in March 2009. The broth­ers worked in tan­dem for sev­er­al years facil­i­tat­ing for the al-Qai­da net­work. “These oper­a­tions pre­vent vio­lent extrem­ists from being able to threat­en Afghan sov­er­eign­ty or main­tain safe havens from which they can threat­en the secu­ri­ty of peo­ple around the world,” said U.S. Air Force Col. James Dawkins, ISAF Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor. “We delib­er­ate­ly tar­get­ed a major threat last night, which will sig­nif­i­cant­ly degrade the al-Qai­da activ­i­ties through­out the region.” Based on intel­li­gence sources, coali­tion forces tracked the com­man­der to a remote com­pound in Darah-ye Pech dis­trict. After ver­i­fy­ing his loca­tion and care­ful plan­ning to help reduce the col­lat­er­al dam­age, coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike on the tar­get­ed com­pound, which was sub­se­quent­ly destroyed. The ISAF is still gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion to assess the results of the strike. “Just like we do with all of our pre­ci­sion air strikes, we bal­anced the pos­si­ble risks posed by pre­ci­sion air strikes with the dan­gers posed by the tar­get­ed indi­vid­ual. In this instance we decid­ed we could not let this oppor­tu­ni­ty pass us by,” Dawkins said. “Care­ful plan­ning, de-con­flic­tion with Afghan author­i­ties and intel­li­gence gath­er­ing helped ensure col­lat­er­al dam­age was kept to a minimum.” 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Hel­mand province Sat­ur­day while in pur­suit of a dual-hat­ted Tal­iban civ­il and mil­i­tary com­man­der for Lashkar Gah and Nahr‑e Saraj dis­tricts. The recent­ly appoint­ed com­man­der was forced to take over the role of mil­i­tary com­man­der after his pre­de­ces­sor was cap­tured ear­li­er this month. Intel­li­gence reports led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Moham­mad Jan Kalay in Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. As the secu­ri­ty force approached the tar­get­ed com­pound, sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als ran from the com­pound. The secu­ri­ty force pur­sued and detained them peace­ful­ly. At the tar­get­ed com­pound, Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the area. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained addi­tion­al sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained two insur­gents and killed four in Takhar province while in pur­suit of a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor involved in attack plan­ning. The facil­i­ta­tor is asso­ci­at­ed with sev­er­al Al Qae­da, Islam­ic Move­ment of Uzbek­istan and Tal­iban lead­ers oper­at­ing in Bagh­lan province. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the vil­lage of Marzek in Ishkamish dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. As the secu­ri­ty force approached the tar­get­ed com­pound, insur­gents imme­di­ate­ly threat­ened the secu­ri­ty force from sev­er­al areas out­side the tar­get­ed com­pound. The secu­ri­ty force engaged from the ground and from coali­tion force air­craft, killing four insur­gents. After the area was secure, Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained two insur­gents. Also, the secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache inside a build­ing with auto­mat­ic weapons, pis­tols, 50 mor­tar fus­es, nine impro­vised explo­sive devices, an anti-tank mine and a remote det­o­na­tor. The secu­ri­ty force destroyed the weapons cache in place after they were unable to defuse the anti-tank mine. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents in Zab­ul province while in pur­suit of a mid-lev­el Tal­iban com­man­der oper­at­ing in Tarnek wa Jal­dak dis­trict. The com­man­der coor­di­nates and par­tic­i­pates in attacks against Afghan gov­ern­ment offi­cials. Based on intel­li­gence tips, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the vil­lage of Ramazi Kalay in Tarnek wa Kalay dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained three sus­pect­ed insurgents. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Pak­ti­ka province, includ­ing a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der involved in impro­vised explo­sive device attacks in Mata Khan dis­trict. The com­man­der is the sixth chief­tain in the Mata Khan Tal­iban net­work cap­tured in the last two months. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound south of the vil­lage of Row­ston Kheyl in Sha­ran dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the com­man­der along with sev­er­al of his associates. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Khost province, includ­ing a Haqqani remote-con­trolled impro­vised explo­sive device facil­i­ta­tor respon­si­ble for the move­ment of weapons and IED mak­ing mate­ri­als. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a com­pound in the vil­lage of Naray Torah in Sabari dis­trict to search for the facil­i­ta­tor. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the facil­i­ta­tor along with some of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force also dis­cov­ered mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons and ammu­ni­tion at the scene. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces con­duct­ed anoth­er mul­ti-day clear­ing oper­a­tion aimed at dis­rupt­ing the Taliban’s free­dom of move­ment out­side Kan­da­har City. Dur­ing the oper­a­tion, at least five insur­gents were killed. The joint secu­ri­ty force is con­tin­u­ing their efforts to dis­rupt ene­my safe havens in Kan­da­har province. This oper­a­tion focused on an area east of the vil­lage of Ghundey Kalay in Zharay dis­trict. Tal­iban lead­ers use vil­lages through­out the dis­trict to plan, coor­di­nate and exe­cute attacks along High­way 1, also known as ring road. Pre­vi­ous oper­a­tions uncov­ered and secured areas plagued with impro­vised explo­sive devices and insur­gent fight­ing posi­tions. “Afghan and coali­tion forces are repeat­ed­ly hit­ting the insur­gents in their back­yard — allow­ing them no time to regroup,” U.S. Army Col. Rafael Tor­res, Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand Com­bined Joint Oper­a­tions Cen­ter direc­tor, said. “The ulti­mate goal is to dis­rupt the enemy’s sanc­tu­ar­ies and stag­ing areas for attacks into Kan­da­har City so that the peo­ple of Kan­da­har City can con­tin­ue their efforts build­ing secu­ri­ty and more impor­tant­ly, re-build­ing their lives with­out the Tal­iban threat.” The joint force encoun­tered heavy ene­my con­tact, includ­ing rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, machine gun, recoil­less rifle and small-arms fire. At least five insur­gents were killed dur­ing sev­er­al engage­ments. No Afghan or coali­tion forces were killed or wound­ed dur­ing the operation. 

— An Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty and coali­tion force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion in Kab­ul. The sus­pect­ed insur­gent was detained with­out inci­dent and tak­en by Afghan author­i­ties for pro­cess­ing and fur­ther ques­tion­ing. The tar­get­ed com­pound is asso­ci­at­ed with a want­ed Tal­iban shad­ow gov­er­nor for the Charkh Dis­trict, Log­ar province. The shad­ow gov­er­nor is also want­ed for coor­di­nat­ing attacks against ANSF and ISAF. 

— Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty and Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­duct­ed two com­bined oper­a­tions result­ing in sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents being detained. The first oper­a­tion occurred in Hel­mand province. Upon arrival and the secur­ing of the tar­get com­pound, the force called out the sus­pect­ed insur­gents and encoun­tered no resis­tance. The force pro­tect­ed numer­ous women and chil­dren, while detain­ing sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als for fur­ther ques­tion­ing. The tar­get of the oper­a­tion is a Tal­iban com­man­der who often receives and dis­trib­utes a range of sup­plies, includ­ing weapons, impro­vised explo­sive device com­po­nents and explo­sives. His geo­graph­i­cal loca­tion between north­ern and cen­tral Hel­mand pro­vides a link between the two insur­gency net­work areas in regards to com­mand and con­trol and facil­i­ta­tion. The sec­ond oper­a­tion took place in Ghazni province. After arriv­ing at the tar­get­ed com­pound, a com­bined Afghan and ISAF force secured the sus­pect­ed Tal­iban commander’s house and called out the sus­pect­ed insur­gent. One sus­pect­ed insur­gent was detained with­out inci­dent. The sus­pect­ed Tal­iban com­man­der is a sig­nif­i­cant Tal­iban leader in Ghazni dis­tricts. He is respon­si­ble for pro­duc­tion and plac­ing of IEDs tar­get­ing ANSF and ISAF forces. He also trains oth­er insur­gents in IED build­ing and placement. 

— Two Afghan civil­ians rid­ing a motor­cy­cle were killed after fail­ing to adhere to sev­er­al warn­ings to stop while approach­ing a secu­ri­ty perime­ter in south­ern Afghanistan. The perime­ter was set up after a patrol in the Musa Qal’ah dis­trict of Hel­mand province was attacked with small-arms fire. After sev­er­al ver­bal and visu­al warn­ings, the motor­cy­cle briefly stopped and then accel­er­at­ed in the direc­tion of the secu­ri­ty force at a high rate of speed. Fol­low­ing addi­tion­al warn­ings by the secu­ri­ty force and the threat posed by the motor­cy­cle, the two indi­vid­u­als were engaged with lethal force. Ini­tial reports indi­cate coali­tion forces fol­lowed the appro­pri­ate esca­la­tion of force pro­ce­dures. ISAF troops fol­low strict rules in regards to esca­la­tion of force pro­ce­dures and do not inten­tion­al­ly tar­get civilians. 

— ISAF con­firmed the cap­ture of a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der oper­at­ing in Mata Khan dis­trict dur­ing an overnight oper­a­tion in Pak­tiya province. The com­man­der coor­di­nat­ed and con­duct­ed impro­vised explo­sive device attacks and facil­i­tat­ed weapons and ammu­ni­tion for future attacks. Fol­low­ing detain­ment, Afghan and coali­tion forces also direct­ly linked him to a recent pres­sure plate IED dis­cov­ered in Mata Khan dis­trict. Intel­li­gence tips led the secu­ri­ty force to a com­pound in the vil­lage of Shakian in Zur­mat dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pounds. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained the com­man­der and two of his associates. 

— Coali­tion forces con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike in Pak­ti­ka province, killing Halel, a Tal­iban sub­com­man­der direct­ly linked to last week’s elec­tion attacks. Halel helped con­duct indi­rect fire and impro­vised explo­sive device attacks. The secu­ri­ty force also recov­ered a sig­nif­i­cant amount of IED mate­r­i­al and weapons at the scene. Based on intel­li­gence sources fol­low­ing an ear­li­er attack against coali­tion forces, the com­bined force tracked Halel to a remote area south­east of the vil­lage of Nazar Moham­mad Kala in Yahya Khel dis­trict. After care­ful plan­ning to ensure no civil­ians were present, coali­tion air­craft con­duct­ed a pre­ci­sion air strike against the com­man­der. A fol­low-on ground force went to the engage­ment site to assess the results of the strike. The secu­ri­ty force con­firmed four insur­gents, includ­ing Halel, were killed and also dis­cov­ered and destroyed a sig­nif­i­cant weapons cache includ­ing mul­ti­ple auto­mat­ic weapons, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, hand grenades and var­i­ous types of ammu­ni­tion. The secu­ri­ty force also searched sev­er­al area com­pounds. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the com­pounds peace­ful­ly and then the com­bined force cleared and secured the com­pounds. The secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a sig­nif­i­cant amount of IED mate­r­i­al includ­ing mul­ti­ple remote trans­mit­ters, det­o­na­tion cord, bat­ter­ies and home­made explo­sives. They also found mul­ti­ple mor­tars, an RPG motor and machine gun ammu­ni­tion. All of the weapons were destroyed at the scene. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force detained two insur­gents for addi­tion­al questioning. 

— Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces detained sev­er­al insur­gents in Khost province, includ­ing a Haqqani com­man­der linked to attacks against Afghan offi­cials. The com­man­der was also involved in ambush­ing a vehi­cle dur­ing last week’s elec­tions and steal­ing a bal­lot box. The secu­ri­ty force also dis­cov­ered a sig­nif­i­cant cache of impro­vised explo­sive device mate­r­i­al and mil­i­tary equip­ment at the scene. Based on intel­li­gence reports, the secu­ri­ty force tar­get­ed a remote com­pound in Tanai dis­trict to search for the com­man­der. Afghan forces used a loud­speak­er to call for all occu­pants to exit the build­ings peace­ful­ly and then the joint secu­ri­ty force cleared and secured the com­pound. After ini­tial ques­tion­ing at the scene, the secu­ri­ty force iden­ti­fied and detained the com­man­der along with three of his asso­ciates. The secu­ri­ty force also dis­cov­ered an auto­mat­ic weapon, pis­tol, rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launch­er, mag­a­zines and loose ammu­ni­tion, along with three U.S. com­bat uni­forms at the scene. These types of uni­forms were recent­ly used in attacks against a coali­tion force base. Addi­tion­al­ly, they dis­cov­ered and destroyed impro­vised explo­sive device mate­r­i­al, includ­ing 100 blast­ing caps, artillery rounds, a land mine, pres­sure plates and elec­tri­cal circuitry. 

In Sept. 24 Afghanistan news: 

— A com­bined force of more than 250 Afghan Nation­al Army, Afghan Nation­al Police and coali­tion sol­diers con­duct­ed an air assault into east­ern Afghanistan to clear insur­gent activ­i­ty in the area. While con­duct­ing their secu­ri­ty and clear­ing patrols in the Alisheng dis­trict of Lagh­man province, the com­bined force received small-arms fire and engaged sev­er­al insur­gents in the area. More than 30 ene­my fight­ers have been killed in the engage­ment. Ini­tial reports indi­cate that there are no injuries or dam­ages to any civil­ians in the area. The oper­a­tion is cur­rent­ly ongoing. 

— Approx­i­mate­ly 30 kilo­grams of nar­cotics were found by Afghan and coali­tion forces in Hel­mand province. The nar­cotics were found after a com­bined force ran­dom vehi­cle check in the area con­duct­ed to inter­cept insurgent’s mate­r­i­al, nar­cotics traf­fick­ers and weapons being trans­port­ed in and out of Hel­mand province. Two vehi­cles were stopped dur­ing a vehi­cle check­point oper­a­tion. Two men in the first vehi­cle were detained for sus­pect­ed insur­gent and nar­cotics links. While the patrol was detain­ing the sus­pects in the first car, the sec­ond vehi­cle left the scene. The com­bined forces fol­lowed the sec­ond vehi­cle to a near­by com­pound. Afghan and ISAF forces then secured the com­pound and searched it, dis­cov­er­ing 20 kilo­grams of wet opi­um and 10 kilo­grams of mar­i­jua­na. The nar­cotics were destroyed in place. The detainees were tak­en by Afghan police for pro­cess­ing and fur­ther questioning. 

— An air weapons team engaged a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of insur­gents fol­low­ing an attack on a remote Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Force out­post in Khost province. Afghan secu­ri­ty forces received direct and indi­rect-fire at Com­bat Out­post Nar­izah near the Pak­istan bor­der. An air weapons team in the area observed the ene­my fire, and fol­low­ing ISAF rules of engage­ment, crossed into the area of ene­my fire. The ISAF air­craft then engaged, killing more than 30 insur­gents. Two ISAF heli­copters returned to the bor­der area Sat­ur­day and were engaged by small-arms fire. The air­craft returned fire, result­ing in sev­er­al addi­tion­al insur­gents killed. Ini­tial reports indi­cate no civil­ian were injured or killed dur­ing either operation. 

— Afghan Nation­al Army and coali­tion forces detained a Tal­iban deputy shad­ow gov­er­nor in Kan­da­har province. The ANA part­nered with the Head­quar­ters and Head­quar­ters Troop of 1- 75th Cav­al­ry Reg­i­ment, 2nd Brigade Com­bat Team, 101st Air­borne Divi­sion (Air Assault) to detain the deputy shad­ow gov­er­nor of Zharay dis­trict. He is a high-lev­el Tal­iban leader asso­ci­at­ed with impro­vised explo­sive devices facil­i­ta­tion, for­eign fight­er trans­port and attacks against coali­tion forces. The shad­ow governor’s deten­tion was pos­si­ble through the efforts of the ANA sol­diers on the ground and report­ing from Tal­iban infor­mants, accord­ing to Army Capt. Matthew Craw­ford, the intel­li­gence offi­cer for Head­quar­ters and Head­quar­ters Troop, 1st Bat­tal­ion, 75th Cav­al­ry Reg­i­ment. The loss of the shad­ow gov­er­nor will have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on high lev­el Tal­iban plan­ning and dis­rupt their oper­a­tions in Zharay, said Crawford. 

Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty forces always make it a pri­or­i­ty to pro­tect women and chil­dren dur­ing all operations. 

Source:
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases 

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