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Map of ISAF Mission in Afghanistan. Click to Enlarge. |
Coalition and Afghan National Army (ANA) forces retook the Chora district police station in Uruzgan province which was attacked and seized Taliban earlier in the week. This was a joint air assault operation, and Chora received a reinforcement of Afghan National Army troops to bolster security in the region. “Insurgents may have attacked the police headquarters, but they never had the capability to control Chora, as evident of their immediate retreat in the face of Afghan and Coalition forces,” said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, the spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force – 76.
Lt. Col. Fitzpatrick is correct, as the Taliban cannot hold territory once taken. A main concern of military officers and security personnel in Kabul is the lack of military and police assets needed to secure the southeastern provinces almost five years after the fall of the Taliban. By all accounts, the police, who are poorly armed and trained, and often are not paid in months, are considered fierce fighters. The security equation in southeastern Afghanistan is beginning to change as NATO implements Stage 3 of the security deployment, and is pushing over 9,000 additional soldiers into southeastern Afghanistan.
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A market near Kabul’s main police station. Click to Enlarge. |
In Kabul, the city remained calm as the political fallout from Monday’s riots lands on Kabul’s chief of police. President Hamid Karzai sacked General Jamil Junbish for failing to quell the riot, and over 80 generals in the Interior Ministry as part of a shakeup in the ministry. The Interior Ministry commands the Afghan National Police.
This afternoon, on the way to visit a girl’s orphanage, I drove past the main Kabul police station after the announcement from the Interior Ministry. Police vehicles were stationed with lights flashing, and numerous police officers were on the street, but no disturbances were reported. The markets remained open and business and traffic was brisk on the street filled with makeshift shops filled with produce, auto parts, building supplies, and various other goods.
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Retaking Chora
Early last week there were reports that a Taliban force had overrun a local police station in Chora, in the Uruzgan province of Southern Afghanistan. The Taliban have claimed that they, not the Government in Kabul are in control of