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CIAO DATE: 7/5/2006
Afghan Update: Sept. 5 - Oct. 2, 2005
Joseph Button
October 2005
Coalition Forces
U.S. led coalition forces killed 12 militants and arrested nine others in a raid in Zabul province on Sept. 5. Coalition forces did not suffer any casualties. U.S. military officials said the militants used their hideout location to stage attacks before the upcoming Sept. 18 elections.
In a remote area of Kandahar province, U.S. and Afghan forces killed 13 Taliban fighters and captured more than a dozen more on Sept. 5. The U.S.-led assault targeted Taliban rebels suspected of the murder of Abduallah Kalid, a candidate for the upcoming elections.
Local Zabul province Taliban commander Mullah Toor Manan – number 15 on America’s most wanted list – attempted to evade capture as coalition forces surrounded his home the evening of Sept. 11. In the ensuing fire fight, U.S forces killed Manan and his bodyguard. One U.S. soldier and his Afghan interpreter were killed by enemy fire.
Wazir Khan, a Zabul province district chief announced on Sept. 13 that U.S. and Afghan troops killed three Taliban rebels and arrested another.
A roadside bomb explosion wounded one U.S. soldier in Uruzgan province on Sept. 14.
A homemade roadside bomb exploded under a U.S. military vehicle on Sept. 15 in Ghazni province, wounding two U.S. soldiers and killing their Afghan interpreter.
Rebels attacked a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol conducting operations outside the city of Salerno on Sept. 18. Enemy fire wounded one U.S. and two Afghan soldiers. Coalition forces killed two of the rebels in the fire fight.
Fighting erupted on Sept. 22 in Uruzgan province after Taliban insurgents attacked coalition troops with mortars, heavy artillery and rocket-propelled grenades. U.S. troops called in helicopter support, which killed 10 enemy combatants. One Afghan soldier died and one U.S. soldier received injuries in the skirmish.
Tajikistan president Imomali Rakhmonov announced on Sept. 23 that the U.S.-led coalition forces will never have a military base in his country. President Rakhmonov made this announcement to counter the belief that the closing U.S. base in Uzbekistan would relocate operations to Tajikistan.
Coalition forces killed four Taliban militants in a skirmish in Uruzgan province on Sept. 23. Following the three hour battle, Afghan troops discovered nine grenades and six rockets near the dead Taliban.
A improvised explosive device detonated near Kandahar city wounding two patrolling U.S. soldiers on Sept. 23. Eight militants began firing after the device exploded but did not inflict further damage on the U.S. patrol. The Americans captured three of the attackers.
On the morning of Sept. 25, a U.S. military helicopter crashed in the Deh Chopan district of Zabul, killing all five crew members. The helicopter crashed after dropping off U.S. troops in the area in support of an ongoing mission. A Taliban spokesman said that guerillas shot down the helicopter, but U.S. military authorities said there was no indication the CH-47 Chinook came under fire before crashing.
A U.S. military spokesman announced on Sept. 26 that Afghanistan insurgents are recruiting younger fighters and staging smaller attacks. The official explained that the reason behind the tactic shift by insurgents is because they no longer have a pool of resources to mount sizeable attacks. The official was clear in explaining that the insurgents are still far from being on the ropes.
A U.S. soldier involved in an Afghan and U.S. forces ground assault west of Kandahar died when enemy forces fired rocket-propelled grenades at a convoy of military vehicles on Sept. 26. The surprise attack also left another soldier injured. The Army unit returned fire killing two and wounding a third attacker.
Insurgents firing mortars, rocket-grenades and small arms at a forward operating base near Asadabad city killed a U.S. marine on Sept. 26. U.S. forces responded with mortar fire and air support.
Recent official warnings that suspected al-Qaida suicide bombers had entered Kabul and southern parts of Afghanistan became reality on Sept. 28 as a suicide bomber drove his motorbike into a bus convoy of Afghan soldiers, detonating explosives. The explosion, which occurred in Kabul, killed eight Afghan soldiers and a civilian bus driver, and wounded 28 others. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials did not confirm this report. Afghan officials suspected the attacker was an Arab.
Four U.S. soldiers returning from a bomb defusing mission hit a live explosive while driving their military vehicle on Sept. 30 in Kunar province. All four soldiers were wounded, but remained in stable condition at the Bagram Air Base hospital.
On Sept. 30, north of the city of Kandahar, enemy soldiers attacked coalition forces using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, killing one U.S. soldier and one Afghan soldier. The attackers also wounded another U.S. soldier and two other Afghan troops who were conducting combat operations in the area.
Coalition forces captured three rebels on Oct. 1 in the southern region of Kandahar province. Local Taliban commander Agha Jan was among those captured.
An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Afghan forces killed at least 28 suspected Taliban militants on Oct. 2 near an Afghan army post in Paktika province, near the Pakistan border. Taliban militants injured four Afghan troops during the four hour battle. Afghan troops also recovered two Russian made rocket launchers and 10 rockets. U.S. officials said that U.S. troops were not involved in the skirmish.
Afghan forces killed three and arrested two militants that ambushed a truck transporting supplies for coalition forces in Paktika province on Oct. 2. The militants, whom Afghan officials reported to be Taliban, wounded two Afghan soldiers in their attack.
Another clash on Oct. 2 in Zabul province between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban insurgents resulted in two wounded Afghan soldiers, while there was no information or evidence of enemy casualties.
General Afghan Security Situation
A car explosion on a Helmand province road killed two suspected suicide bombers and injured four citizens near the vehicle on Sept. 7. A local spokesperson claimed the attack was an attempt to ambush U.S. forces that often travel on the road. Another senior security official blamed the explosion on foreign nationals working for al-Qaida.
Eight people died after Taliban militants attacked a security checkpoint in Ghazni province on Sept. 7. An hour of fighting resulted in the death of six policemen and two Taliban.
Armed men opened fire on a woman parliamentary candidate’s convoy in Nangarhar province on Sept. 7. Candidate Afia Siddiqi escaped uninjured, while the suspected Taliban insurgents wounded two of her supporters and a policeman in the attack.
Suspected Taliban rebels attacked the Afghan National Army weapons depot in the Muqur district of Ghazni province killing six Afghan policemen on Sept. 8. The Interior Ministry press office announced that Afghan police killed two and captured one of the assailants.
Police found the executed bodies of a parliamentary candidate, Hajji Muhammad Nawab, a local district chief and three others on Sept. 10 after an intensive search throughout Kandahar province. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibilities for the executions.
The Afghan state news agency reported that an election candidate from western Afghanistan, Ghulam Nabi Balouch, came under gunfire from unidentified attackers on Sept. 10. The attackers killed on of Balouch’s bodyguards, while the police wounded and arrested one of the assailants.
A helicopter crash-landing on Sept. 10 in the Panjshir valley left several ministers of state and the military chief of staff injured. All the passengers escaped from the flaming helicopter.
It was reported that men in military uniforms opened fire on the car of Afghanistan’s defense minister, Abdur Rahim Wardak, on Sept. 10 in Kabul. The nine men were arrested and one was injured when soldiers intervened. The following day, a new report on the incident claimed that the uniformed men were Afghan government soldiers who were firing at other troops they were angry with and that the shots fired were not meant for the defense minister.
Ghulam Haider, district chief of Khake district in Zabul province, announced on Sept. 13 that Taliban fighters killed a man working for the Afghan intelligence.
Afghan soldiers and police arrested five suspected militants posing as camera journalists on Sept. 13 in Zabul province.
Local Uruzgan provincial officials said Taliban rebels ambushed and shot dead seven Afghan citizens carrying voter cards province on Sept. 13. The Taliban official who claimed responsibility for the attack said the slain were policemen and not civilians.
On Sept. 14, Hawa Alam Nuristani, a female candidate of the parliamentary elections was non-fatally shot and two of her supporters were kidnapped while traveling by car to a campaign meeting. Locals did not blame the Taliban for the attack.
Uruzgan province was the location of a suspected Taliban attack on a police checkpoint on Sept. 14. Police killed three of the suspected Taliban and captured another.
Authorities from Helmand province suspected Taliban gunmen as the culprits of the murder of parliamentary candidate Abdul Hadi on Sept 15.
Seven suspected Taliban fighters died ambushing a police patrol in Zabul province on Sept. 16. In an unrelated incident, a similar ambush near Kabul resulted in the death of three policemen.
Police arrested 20 suspected Taliban members caught planting bombs at the Kajaki dam in Helmand province on Sept. 17. Also, in massive operations across Afghanistan police seized several explosives and weapons caches.
Afghan officials announced that unknown assailants killed a popular singer and six other people in Jawsjan province on Sept. 22. The motive for the murders is unclear.
Taliban insurgents stormed a prison and police headquarters near Khost on Sept. 24, resulting in the death of an inmate. The attackers injured one policeman in their assault. Mohammad Auyub, provincial police chief, said that some of the attackers spoke Arabic and Urdu, showing that the Taliban insurgents are still receiving foreign troop support.
Ashraf Ramazan, an ethnic Hazara leader seeking election in Balkh province, died after gunmen fired into his car on Sept. 27. The gunmen killed another passenger in the car and injured the driver and one of Ramazan’s bodyguards.
Afghan police captured a key enemy commander in Ghazni province on Sept. 28. A local man reported the location of Abdul Gafar to the police, who then detained him.
Afghan officials blamed the Taliban for two separate attacks on Sept. 28 in eastern Afghanistan. In the first attack, a United Nations car hit a roadside bomb, critically wounding an engineer from Bangladesh and two Afghan policemen. In the other attack, a mine explosion killed one civilian.
International Security Assistance Force
Gen. Mauro del Vecchio, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said on Sept. 6 that troop levels must rise as ISAF expands its security role into the south of Afghanistan. Del Vecchio predicted that 2,000 to 3,000 more troops would be added to the existing force of 8,500 before May of 2006, when ISAF takes responsibility for southern Afghanistan.
On Sept. 14, European allies rejected a proposal made by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that NATO peacekeeping forces take on counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. Germany, France and Spain stated they did not want peacekeepers to become involved in quelling the Taliban-led insurgency.
Forces led by NATO found a large stockpile of rockets, anti aircraft launchers and other explosives on Sept 14, on the Shomali Plains, 18 miles north of Kabul. Military officials said that these weapons might have been used to disrupt the Sept. 18 elections, based on the amount of weapons and the strategic location of the cache.
Two Canadian peacekeepers received slight injuries from a roadside bomb on Sept. 15. Canadian troops are to move to a base in Kandahar after the elections, potentially increasing their risk from such attacks.
The detonation of a remote controlled land mine killed one French soldier and seriously wounded another on Sept. 17 in southern Afghanistan. The two French Special Forces soldiers drove in the lead car of a convoy of U.S. and French troops providing security for the next day’s parliamentary elections.
Germany’s legislature recently decided to extend Germany’s contribution to the International Security Assistance Force. As a result of this decision, on Sept. 28, Germany increased their ISAF troop commitment to 3,000 from 2,250 and extended their mandate for another year to October 2006. Currently, Germany is the largest contributor of ISAF troops.
John Reid, the U.K. Defense Secretary, announced on Sept. 30 that upwards to 4,000 British troops will deploy to Afghanistan to help with the resurgent Taliban campaign in the South of Afghanistan and curve the prolific drug trade. The U.K. Parliament will decide on the exact amount of additional troop support in October.
Pakistan
On Sept. 7, Afghan refugees in Pakistan attacked a UN site office in Peshawar, destroying a vehicle and burning computers and furniture. Despite the attack, the United Nations reconfirmed its commitment to continue to help the repatriation of Afghan refugees. Pakistani government officials recently demanded that the 105,000 Afghan refugees living along the border leave by mid-September. This has caused unrest amongst the refugees.
Aftab Sherpao, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, announced on Sept. 30 that militants in the North Warizstan region of Pakistan killed 11 Pakistani soldiers in a series of continuous clashes over the past two days. The Pakistani official suggested that Pakistani troops might have killed almost 30 militants. The Pakistani mission aimed at targeting religious leader Maulana Sadiq Noor, who allegedly harbors militants. U.S. and Afghan officials have recently been encouraging Pakistan to use more military force in its autonomous northern regions in a broad effort to encircle and pressure hiding al-Qaida and Taliban militants.
Other News in Brief
* The European Union announced on Sept. 6 that it would give an extra $11.2 million for the Sept. 18 Afghan elections. The EU grants to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 total $4.8 billion dollars.
* Afghanistan’s Elections Complaints Commission announced on Sept. 12 its disqualification of 28 parliamentary candidates. The majority of the disqualified candidates violated elections laws that barred them from having links to armed militias.
* Syed Mohammad Fatemi, the Afghan Health Minister, said on Sept. 13 that Afghanistan needs $233 million dollars to confront Afghanistan’s health problems over the next five years. Rising infant and maternal mortality and a lack of hospitals and other medical facilities are main concerns of the Health Ministry.
* U.S. military commanders revealed draft plans on Sept. 13 to lower the number of American troops by as many as 4,000 if NATO-led troops continue to widen their security role in Afghanistan. The U.S. plan is contingent on an improving political and security situation in Afghanistan and how willing NATO forces are to combat insurgents. To date, the Afghan National Army totals near 25,000 troops and the Afghan police force has 50,000 members, which is a growing sign of greater Afghan security.
* Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Elyor Ganiev said in a speech to the United Nations on Sept. 16 that Central Asia is plagued by a convergence of terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking. Ganiev directly expressed frustration with the international community’s counter narcotics strategy for Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia.
* In an effort hinder the election process, Taliban spokesmen on Sept. 16 urged Afghan citizens to boycott the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, while verbally recommitting their promise to not attack voting civilians.
* Voting for the parliamentary elections ran relatively smoothly on Sept. 18. Afghan officials said that 6.6 million of the 12.4 million registered voters came to the polls. Voter turnout was less than the expected 70 percent. Confusion over the 5,800 candidates rather than security threats is blamed for the lower than expected turn out rate. Only 16 of roughly 6,000 polling stations were unable to open because of security reasons.
* Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sept. 21 called for an end to the major U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan. Following the successful Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, Karzai voiced his belief that the tactics in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan should change. Specifically, Karzai called for an end to ineffective air strikes and non-government authorized searches in people’s homes. Karzai encouraged foreign government forces to concentrate operations on terrorist training centers and their monetary and weapons suppliers.
* On Sept. 22, U.S. Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S.-led coalition operational commander, responded to comments made by Karzai the previous day. Kamiya said that air strikes against insurgents are a decisive tool in defeating the insurgents. He also added that most home search operations were being conducted by Afghan soldiers and police, and that these two groups almost always accompanied U.S. troops on home searches.
* Officials announced on Sept. 23 that despite a nationwide 53 percent voter turn-out rate in Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, only reported a 36 percent voter turn-out rate.
* Stephen Hadley, the U.S. national security adviser, met with officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sept. 26 to encourage both countries to increase their efforts in the hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives hiding in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hadley later suggested that Pakistani and coalition forces coordinate their military strategies to put increased pressure on the rebels.
* Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalai announced his resignation on Sept. 27. Jalai said he was leaving his position to pursue a career in academia, but sources close to Jalai said his frustration over corruption in the government and Afghanistan’s escalating drug trade led him to resign. Deputy Minister for Security Zarar Ahmed Muqbal will temporarily assume the Interior Minister position.
* After a recent visit to Afghanistan, retired U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said that evidence clearly indicates that Afghan’s large opium and heroin trade is fueling both the Taliban and al-Qaida. In an article released on Oct. 1, McCaffrey also added that countering the drug trade in Afghanistan is an essential problem to overcome in accomplishing U.S. purposes in the region.
* Election officials in Afghanistan announced on Oct. 2 that the 80 percent of counted votes included significant incidences of fraud. Peter Erben of the United Nations said ballot boxes from 4 percent of the 26,000 polling places, or about 1,000 stations, were set aside for investigation on suspicion of fraud and other irregularities.
