Afghanistan — Afghan, ISAF Forces Break Insurgent Blockade of Marjaneh Bazaar

KABUL, Afghanistan — A block­ade of the Mar­janeh bazaar threat­en­ing to starve Waza Khawa res­i­dents into sup­port­ing the insur­gency end­ed recent­ly thanks to Afghan Nation­al Police (ANP) and ISAF sol­diers from a U.S. infantry com­pa­ny.

The block­ade began in ear­ly June, with insur­gents using a com­bi­na­tion of impro­vised explo­sive devices (IEDs) and indi­rect and small-arms fire in an effort to keep food ship­ments and coali­tion forces away from the area, said U.S. Army 1st Lt. R.J. Peek, 3–187 Infantry Reg­i­ment spokesman. 

In response, coali­tion forces began con­struc­tion of a check­point June 9. 

Dur­ing the con­struc­tion process, ANP, Afghan Nation­al Army (ANA) and U.S. sol­diers pro­vid­ed secu­ri­ty. The check­point was com­plet­ed June 28. 

In the first two weeks of con­struc­tion, secu­ri­ty forces engaged in sev­er­al fire­fights with insur­gents who were attempt­ing to attack and destroy the check­point with rock­ets, mor­tars, recoil­less rifles, IEDs, rock­et-pro­pelled grenades, and small-arms fire. 

Each attack by the insur­gents had the same result — com­bined forces maneu­ver­ing on the attack­ers and forc­ing them to flee — leav­ing behind their weapons and equipment. 

Afghan secu­ri­ty forces con­tin­ue to thwart insur­gents’ efforts to block­ade the bazaar. Con­voys now roll into Waza Khawa unscathed, and shop own­ers are able to restock their shelves and resume busi­ness. Waza Khawa Sub-Gov­er­nor Mohamed Ramazan held a shu­ra in Mar­janeh June 28 to dis­cuss the open­ing of the check­point and the over­all secu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion in the district. 

ANA and ANP mem­bers pro­vid­ed secu­ri­ty as Ramazan gath­ered the peo­ple of the bazaar to dis­cuss the future of Mar­janeh and stress the impor­tance of edu­ca­tion and sup­port for the government. 

Press release
Com­piled from Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Releases