Afghanistan — Combined Forces Capture Taliban Facilitator

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2011 — A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor yes­ter­day dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in Kan­da­har province’s Zharay dis­trict, mil­i­tary offi­cials report­ed.
The facil­i­ta­tor was a Tal­iban financier who funds oper­a­tions and acquires weapons for attacks against coali­tion forces, includ­ing the April 7 vehi­cle-borne impro­vised explo­sive device attack against a coali­tion for­ward oper­at­ing base.

Also yes­ter­day, the Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force joined Afghan Pres­i­dent Hamid Karzai in con­demn­ing the April 10 killing of three Afghan elders and the wound­ing of oth­er inno­cent Afghans in Farah province. Reports indi­cate an insur­gent impro­vised explo­sive device det­o­nat­ed near the elders’ vehi­cle as they were trav­el­ing to a devel­op­ment shu­ra to dis­cuss peace and decide which projects to sup­port with Afghan and inter­na­tion­al funds. 

“We join Pres­i­dent Karzai in con­demn­ing the dis­grace­ful attack on inno­cent Afghans,” said Navy Rear Admi­ral Vic Beck, ISAF direc­tor of pub­lic affairs. “This is yet anoth­er exam­ple that the Tal­iban do not respect Afghanistan’s trib­al sys­tem and increas­ing­ly seem to act as if direct­ed by out­side interests. 

“This cow­ard­ly attack on Afghan lead­ers, and all who are striv­ing to improve the lives of their fel­low Afghans, is anoth­er despi­ca­ble illus­tra­tion of the insur­gents’ attempts to pre­vent progress in Afghanistan,” he con­tin­ued. “As we work with our Afghan part­ners, ISAF will not rest in our efforts to bring those respon­si­ble to justice.” 

In oth­er Afghanistan news yesterday: 

— An Afghan and coali­tion force detained one sus­pect­ed insur­gent while search­ing for a Tal­iban facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Baghlan‑e Jadid dis­trict of Bagh­lan province. The facil­i­ta­tor is an explo­sives expert oper­at­ing in the dis­trict. He recent­ly con­struct­ed sui­cide vests for use in future attacks by the Bagh­lan sui­cide attack net­work. He is direct­ly respon­si­ble for attacks against Afghan secu­ri­ty forces and assist­ed in an attack against an Aree­ba cell phone tower. 

— In the Nahr‑e Saraj dis­trict of Hel­mand province, a coali­tion patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of two 15-pound jugs filled with home­made explo­sives, three pres­sure plates, one 60-pound direc­tion­al frag­men­ta­tion charge, two elec­tron­ic charges with spliced wires and sev­er­al oth­er IED-mak­ing components. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol killed sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Qarghah’i dis­trict of Lagh­man province. The patrol received rock­et-pro­pelled grenade and small-arms fire from an unknown num­ber of insur­gents. The patrol engaged the insur­gents with small-arms fire and called for close-air sup­port, killing sev­er­al insurgents. 

— A coali­tion patrol found a weapons cache in the Qarah Bagh dis­trict of Ghazni province. The cache con­sist­ed of 150 pounds of home­made explo­sives divid­ed in six dif­fer­ent con­tain­ers, three one-liter cans filled with home­made explo­sives, five pres­sure plates, one ini­tia­tor and sev­er­al IED-mak­ing components. 

— Also in Ghazni province, a coali­tion patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of 16 rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and 11 82 mm rounds in the Ghazni district. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces killed one insur­gent in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. The com­bined force received small-arms fire from insur­gents while on patrol in the dis­trict. The com­bined force engaged the ene­my with small-arms fire, killing one insurgent. 

In April 9 operations: 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion patrol killed sev­er­al insur­gents and detained sev­er­al oth­er sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing an oper­a­tion in the Alah Say dis­trict of Kapisa province.

— In the Pan­jwai’i dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, Afghan and coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of 20 pounds of ammo­ni­um nitrate, 20 pounds of black pow­der and one block of black hero­in. The drugs were destroyed by secu­ri­ty forces. 

— A com­bined Afghan and coali­tion force cap­tured a Tal­iban leader and detained sev­er­al sus­pect­ed insur­gents dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Khost dis­trict of Khost province. The leader was asso­ci­at­ed with the Taj Mir Jawad net­work, which plans and con­ducts attacks against Afghan and coali­tion forces in the Pul‑e Alam dis­trict of Log­ar province. He planned attacks in coor­di­na­tion with oth­er Tal­iban lead­ers and facil­i­ta­tors in the area. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Arghandab dis­trict of Kan­da­har province. The cache con­sist­ed of nine rock­et-pro­pelled grenades and 600 7.62 mm rounds. 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Zur­mat dis­trict of Pak­tiya province. The cache con­sist­ed of one rock­et-pro­pelled grenade, one 82 mm mor­tar round, one 107 mm cone packed with home­made explo­sives, one 82 mm mor­tar round packed with home­made explo­sives and three oth­er muni­tions packed with home­made explosives. 

— Sev­er­al insur­gents were killed by ISAF troops dur­ing sep­a­rate clear­ing oper­a­tions in Hel­mand province. An ISAF patrol spot­ted two armed insur­gents dis­play­ing hos­tile intent against coali­tion forces in the San­gin dis­trict. Coali­tion forces engaged the ene­my with small-arms fire, killing the insur­gents. In the Musa Qal’ah dis­trict, an ISAF patrol was attacked by insur­gents’ small-arms fire. Coali­tion forces returned fire killing one insur­gent and forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. 

— In Hel­mand province, an ISAF patrol observed insur­gents emplac­ing an IED in the Musa Qal’ah dis­trict. Coali­tion forces estab­lished pos­i­tive iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the ene­my posi­tion and engaged, killing one insurgent. 

— In the Arghandab dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, a com­bined patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache con­sist­ing of 600 7.62 mm rounds and nine rock­et-pro­pelled grenades. 

— In the Mohammad‑e Sha­did dis­trict of Ghazni province, an ISAF patrol was engaged by an unknown num­ber of insur­gents. Coali­tion forces returned fire, killing one insur­gent and wound­ing another. 

In April 8 operations: 

— In the Darz­ab dis­trict of Jowz­jan province, Afghan and coali­tion forces repelled an insur­gent attack dur­ing a clear­ing oper­a­tion. Coali­tion forces called for air sup­port when an Afghan patrol was engaged by sev­er­al insur­gents. The air-weapons team sup­port­ing ground forces engaged the ene­my posi­tion, killing two insur­gents and forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. 

— An ISAF patrol dis­cov­ered a weapons cache in the Andar dis­trict of Ghazni province. The cache con­sist­ed of four AK-47 rifles, 29 AK-47 mag­a­zines, one machine gun, three rock­et-pro­pelled grenade rounds, three RPG launch­ers, 19 grenades, one cell phone, three hand­held radios, five bat­ter­ies, three bags of alu­minum nitrate, one IED igni­tion source, nine tac­ti­cal vests and six motorcycles. 

— Afghan and ISAF troops killed sev­er­al insur­gents dur­ing a clear­ing oper­a­tion in the San­gin dis­trict of Hel­mand province. A com­bined patrol observed armed insur­gents dis­play­ing hos­tile intent against coali­tion forces. The com­bined patrol engaged the ene­my with small-arms fire, killing sev­er­al insurgents. 

— In Hel­mand province, an ISAF patrol was attacked by insur­gents in the San­gin dis­trict. Coali­tion forces returned fire and called for air sup­port. The air-weapons team killed sev­er­al insur­gents, forc­ing the oth­ers to flee. 

— In Hel­mand and Uruz­gan provinces, Afghan and ISAF troops found sev­er­al weapons and IED-mak­ing com­po­nents caches in the Garm Ser, Tarin Kot and Mar­jah dis­tricts. The caches con­tained 1,750 7.62 mm rounds, sev­en pres­sure plates, 500 feet of elec­tri­cal wire, sev­er­al IED-mak­ing elec­tri­cal com­po­nents and two rock­et-pro­pelled grenade launchers. 

— In the Arghandab dis­trict of Kan­da­har province, Afghan and coali­tion forces dis­cov­ered an ammu­ni­tion cache con­sist­ing of 1,200 7.62 mm rounds. 

In April 7 operations: 

— Afghan and coali­tion forces con­firmed the cap­ture of a Haqqani net­work facil­i­ta­tor dur­ing a secu­ri­ty oper­a­tion in the Sayyid Karam dis­trict of Pak­tiya province. The Haqqani facil­i­ta­tor was in the final stages of exe­cut­ing a sui­cide attack in Gardez, Pak­tiya province, under the direc­tion of a senior Haqqani leader. Secu­ri­ty forces cap­tured him along with five sus­pect­ed Haqqani insur­gents at a loca­tion in the Sayyid Karam district. 

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

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