Afghanistan — Afghanistan Operation Leaves Taliban Commander Dead

KABUL — Afghan and inter­na­tion­al forces killed a lead­ing Tal­iban com­man­der in Afghanistan’s Hel­mand province yes­ter­day, mil­i­tary offi­cials reported. 

Offi­cials said the com­bined oper­a­tion result­ed in the death of a lead­ing Tal­iban com­man­der known as Amid. The insur­gent commander’s demise is expect­ed to dis­rupt the train­ing facil­i­ta­tion of an active Tal­iban net­work in Helmand’s Mal­mand district. 

After sev­er­al com­pounds were iden­ti­fied as pos­si­ble loca­tions for Amid, the oper­a­tion was con­duct­ed to search the com­pounds and find him. As the com­bined force approached the first com­pound, one insur­gent fled to an adja­cent com­pound that was occu­pied by women and chil­dren, while two oth­ers hid in a near­by tree line. 

The com­bined force secured three com­pounds, and Afghan spe­cial police con­duct­ed numer­ous call­outs in local dialects. Sev­er­al men, women, and chil­dren vacat­ed the com­pounds and were moved to a safe area for the dura­tion of the operation. 

Once they were assured the civil­ians were safe, the com­bined force pro­ceed­ed to the tree line to appre­hend the insur­gents who had fled from the first com­pound. The insur­gents ignored numer­ous call­outs by Afghan spe­cial police and instead pre­sent­ed a cred­i­ble threat to the com­bined force, which then shot and killed them. Offi­cials said Amid, a lead­ing Tal­iban com­man­der and sui­cide-attack facil­i­ta­tor, was con­firmed to have been killed. Sev­er­al oth­er men were detained. 

Eight women and 23 chil­dren were pro­tect­ed and returned safe­ly to their homes, offi­cials said. 

In Helmand’s San­gin dis­trict last night, a com­bined Afghan-inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty force detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed mil­i­tants for ques­tion­ing dur­ing an oper­a­tion in search of a Tal­iban com­man­der. No shots were fired, and no Afghan cit­i­zens were harmed dur­ing the oper­a­tion, offi­cials said. 

Source:
From an Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force Joint Com­mand News Release