Allen Checks Troop Outposts on Afghan Border

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2011 — Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen sur­veyed coali­tion troops posi­tioned along Afghanistan’s bor­der with Pak­istan this week, as mem­bers of the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force con­tin­ued oper­a­tions to seize ille­gal weapons and drugs in Afghanistan’s south­ern and east­ern provinces, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.

Allen, ISAF’s com­man­der, con­duct­ed an on-site sur­vey of coali­tion out­posts in Pak­ti­ka province on Dec. 19 to observe first­hand how the sol­diers from the 2nd Bat­tal­ion, 28th Infantry Reg­i­ment at Obser­va­tion Post Twins and Com­bat Out­post Mar­gah secure their posi­tions near Afghanistan’s bor­der with Pakistan.

British Roy­al Marine Col. Mark Gray, ISAF’S chief of oper­a­tions, joined Allen.

“The guys at these out­posts have a very impor­tant job mon­i­tor­ing what goes on and pre­vent­ing the infil­tra­tion of insur­gents into that area of Afghanistan,” Gray said. “With­out going to see the envi­ron­ment they are in, you have no con­cept of the job they are doing and per­haps the risks they might face.”

The troops gave Allen an overview of the weapons they use to defend themselves.

“It’s impor­tant to under­stand what kinds of weapon sys­tems are avail­able to the sol­diers at these out­posts,” Gray added. “This helps Gen­er­al Allen know that the troops are ade­quate­ly pro­tect­ed and to make strate­gic deci­sions that impact the tac­ti­cal sit­u­a­tion. See­ing the out­posts first­hand helps him to think through the whole chain of con­se­quences that his actions and deci­sions will have on these troops.”

In addi­tion to receiv­ing a tac­ti­cal brief regard­ing the secu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion that troops face on a dai­ly basis, Allen also vis­it­ed with sol­diers indi­vid­u­al­ly and thanked them for their service.

In secu­ri­ty oper­a­tions today in Afghanistan:

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in Log­ar province’s Muham­mad Aghah dis­trict con­sist­ing of three rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, two unknown artillery rounds and a rock­et. The weapons were con­fis­cat­ed to be destroyed at a lat­er date.

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion secu­ri­ty force dis­cov­ered a six impro­vised explo­sive devices in Uruz­gan province’s Chorah dis­trict, which were con­fis­cat­ed to be destroyed at a lat­er date. In Uruzgan’s Tarin Kot dis­trict, a com­bined force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of an RPG, a 107 mm rock­et and var­i­ous small arms ammu­ni­tion. Secu­ri­ty forces con­fis­cat­ed all items to be destroyed at a lat­er date.

— A com­bined force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in War­dak province’s Sayyid­abad dis­trict. The cache con­sist­ed of RPGs, 10 cans of RPG pro­pel­lant and two pres­sure plate det­o­na­tion devices. The weapons were con­fis­cat­ed to be destroyed at a lat­er date.

In Afghanistan oper­a­tions yesterday:

— A com­bined force dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in Ghazni province’s Ghazni dis­trict. The cache con­sist­ed of 156 mor­tars of vary­ing sizes, 19 rock­ets, 120 artillery rounds, 535 rounds of small-arms ammu­ni­tion, 50 grenade fus­es, 22 anti-per­son­nel mines and 11 anti-tank grenades. Most of the weapons were destroyed on site and a por­tion was con­fis­cat­ed to be destroyed at a lat­er date.

— A com­bined force in Kan­da­har province’s Pan­jwa’i dis­trict dis­cov­ered 441 pounds of hashish, which they con­fis­cat­ed to be destroyed at a lat­er date. 

— A com­bined force dis­cov­ered eight IEDs in Zab­ul province’s Kahh Kalay dis­trict. An explo­sive ord­nance dis­pos­al team destroyed all of the IEDs with­out incident.

— In the Nad Ali dis­trict of Hel­mand province, a com­bined force dis­cov­ered a cache of IED-mak­ing mate­ri­als includ­ing 64 pres­sure plate det­o­na­tion devices, six bags of explo­sive mate­ri­als, 14 remote det­o­na­tors, five packs of elec­tri­cal wire and a role of det­o­na­tion cord. The secu­ri­ty force con­fis­cat­ed all mate­ri­als for destruc­tion at a lat­er date. 

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

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