|
|
|
Map of Afghanistan’s provinces. Click map to view larger image. |
The International Security Assistance Force has apologized today for accidentally killing civilians during a raid in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar yesterday.
More than 15 Taliban fighters, including two commanders, and upwards of 12 civilians, are reported to have been killed during a special operations raid that targeted a high-level Taliban meeting.
The raid took place on Aug. 4 in the village of Khwazakheyl in the Sherzad district as Coalition special forces and Afghan commandos targeted a compound “based on accurate intelligence that senior Taliban leadership was present,” according to today’s International Security Assistance Force press release on the operation.
“During movement to the compound, the joint security force was engaged from multiple locations by insurgents with small arms and rocket propelled grenades,” ISAF stated, indicating that the compound was heavily defended.
The combined Afghan and Coalition force returned fired and killed an estimated 15 to 20 Taliban fighters, including two commanders identified as Ghulam and Shamar. The security force also discovered a large cache of weapons and munitions.
According to a press release on the incident published on Aug. 4, prior to the ISAF release today saying that civilians may have been killed, ISAF stated: “As the security force departed the area they continued to be engaged from several different directions.” The Aug. 4 press release also said that “[a]n air weapons team provided cover fire and no Afghan or coalition forces were hurt in the operation.”
In today’s press release on the raid, ISAF stated that “between four and a dozen or more civilians were killed,” but based the report on “information received from provincial and local Nangarhar officials.” It is unclear if ISAF was able to confirm the civilian casualties on its own, and no civilians have been named by Afghan officials.
The security situation in Nangarhar province has deteriorated over the past several years as the Taliban have infiltrated the province from bases in Pakistan. ISAF acknowledged the worsening situation in today’s press release when it stated that “elements of the insurgency have continued to wage a campaign to intimidate, coerce, tax, kidnap and murder innocent civilians.” The Taliban have been issuing night letters in Jalalabad, the main city, and have targeted CD and DVD shops, barber shops, and cell phone providers, among other businesses.
The Taliban have also carried out suicide attacks in Nangarhar, and even launched a suicide assault on the main NATO airbase in the city. In that incident, the attack was repelled and six Taliban fighters were killed; only two Coalition troops were wounded.
Al Qaeda maintains a strong presence in Nangarhar province, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal. The presence of al Qaeda cells has been detected in the districts of Sorubi, Shinwar, Sherzad, Khugyani, Jalalabad, Achin, Bati Kowt, Chaparhar, and Dara Noor; or nine of Nangarhar’s 22 districts.
In recent weeks, ISAF special operations teams have been actively hunting Taliban leaders in Jalalabad. Including yesterday’s raid, ISAF has struck at Taliban leaders and facilitators four times in the districts of Sherzad and Behsud.
The July 20 raid targeted the “primary Taliban facilitator for foreign fighters and attacks against high interest targets within eastern Afghanistan.” Several Taliban fighters were killed. The July 23 raid resulted in the capture of a Taliban IED facilitator. The July 26 raid resulted in the capture of a Taliban sub-commander operating in Khugyani district.
Also, on July 3, ISAF and Afghan forces captured a Taliban commander, a facilitator, and two fighters during a raid in Nangarhar. “The commander is directly linked to the Taliban emir of Khugyani district and assisted with the recent influx of Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) insurgents into the province,” ISAF stated.
Taliban leadership in the east
The Peshawar Regional Military Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban’s four major commands, directs activities in the eastern Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, and Kunar. Abdul Latif Mansur is thought to currently lead the Taliban’s Peshawar shura. It was led by Maulvi Abdul Kabir before his detention in Pakistan in February 2010.
A Taliban group known as the Tora Bora Military Front operates in Nangarhar and has been behind a series of deadly attacks in the province. The Tora Bora Military Front is led by Anwarul Haq Mujahid, the son of Maulvi Mohammed Yunis Khalis, who was instrumental in welcoming Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan after al Qaeda was ejected from Sudan in 1996. Pakistan detained Mujahid in Peshawar in June 2009.
Nangarhar is a strategic province for both the Taliban and the Coalition. The province borders the Pakistani tribal agency of Khyber. The majority of NATO’s supplies pass through Khyber and Nangarhar before reaching Kabul and points beyond.
Sources:
• ISAF Confirms Civilians Killed During Operation That Removed Large Number of Taliban From Nangarhar, ISAF press release
• Insurgents Struck During Operation in Nangarhar, Civilian Casualty Allegations Made, ISAF press release
• Taliban influence spreads to Jalalabad, The Long War Journal
• Getting After It, Free Range International
• Taliban attack airbase in eastern Afghanistan, The Long War Journal
• Afghan and Coalition Security Force Kill and Detain Insurgents in Nangarhar, ISAF press release
• Taliban Facilitator Captured by Afghan and Coalition Force in Nangarhar, ISAF press release
• Afghan and Coalition Force Captures Taliban Sub-commander in Nangarhar, ISAF press release
• Taliban commander linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba detained in eastern Afghanistan, The Long War Journal
• The Afghan Taliban’s top leaders, The Long War Journal
• Another senior Afghan Taliban leader detained in Pakistan, The Long War Journal
• Report: Tora Bora Front leader captured in Peshawar, The Long War Journal
2 Comments
These apologies rub me the wrong way.
Let’s just issue a pre-emptive blanket apology for all collateral damage and civilian casualties going forward.
When the Taliban apologizes for willfully beheading a tribal elder on Main Street in the middle of the day I’ll think our endless apologies for inadvertent, unintended collateral civilian casualties are warranted.
civilians? what civilians? aid and abetting is a crime too. large stash of weapons? harboring.
I feel no grief for those. and you should all refuse to call them ‘civilians’. that’s just playing by the rules our enemy sets. trying to turn sympathy their way.
and besides, they all wear the same clothes, who knows if they were really ‘innocent’?
Oh, I can hear the arguments now.