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Map of Afghanistan’s provinces. Click map to view larger image. |
Afghan commandos killed 23 Taliban fighters and captured seven more during a raid last night in a terrorist stronghold in the northwest. The Afghan commandos, backed by Coalition special operations forces, battled the Taliban for 12 hours in the village of Darai Bom in the Balamurghab district in Badghis province.
“We received some reports about the presence of Taliban in the area planning to attack government locations, and yesterday night we launched a joint operation with the NATO forces which was a success,” Zainuddin Sharifi, a senior Afghan Army commander, told Quqnoos.
The Afghan Army commander claimed the Taliban left 23 Taliban bodies on the battlefield. Among them were Mullah Sulaiman and two other local Taliban commanders. Twenty-one Taliban fighters were said to have been wounded during the clash. An unnamed provincial official claimed four Afghan soldiers were killed, but Zainuddin denied the report.
The Balamurghab district serves as the Taliban’s main operations hub for northwestern Afghanistan. Taliban commanders in Badghis have claimed to have 74 bases scattered throughout the Balamurghab district alone. Both Balamurghab and the neighboring district of Ghormach are considered to be under Taliban control. US, Spanish, and Afghan forces now maintain a presence in the Balamurghab district at Forward Operating Base Columbus.
Badghis is critical to the Taliban’s northern front. The Taliban are attempting to isolate the province by keeping the instability high so the paved section of the northern ring road cannot be completed. The Taliban want to use their safe havens in Badghis to launch attacks against neighboring Faryab province and eventually Mazar-i-Sharif.
Coalition and Afghan forces have been targeting the Taliban in Badghis for years. In February 2009, Mullah Dastagir, the Taliban’s shadow governor for Badghis, was killed in an airstrike along with several aides and fighters. Coalition and Afghan forces battled the Taliban through 2008 and early 2009 but have been unable to dislodge them from strongholds in the two districts.
An al Qaeda affiliate also operates in Badghis
The al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party is also known to operate in Badghis province. In January 2010, a US airstrike in the village of Khatawaran in Balamurghab killed 13 Uighurs and two Turkish members of the Turkistan Islamic Party.
The Turkistan Islamic Party, which is also known as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party or Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, operates primarily in China’s western province of Xinjiang as well as in the Central Asian republics. The group seeks to establish an Islamic state in the region. The Turkistan Islamic Party has training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is known to operate in both countries.
The Turkistan Islamic Party has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.
Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, is closely linked to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Haq, who is also known as Maimaitiming Maimaiti, became the leader of the terror group in late 2003 after Hassan Mahsum, the group’s previous leader, was killed in Waziristan, Pakistan. Haq was appointed a member of al Qaeda’s Shura Majlis, or executive council, in 2005, according to the US Treasury Department, which designated him as a global terrorist in April 2009. The United Nations also designated Haq as a terrorist leader.
In May, Pakistan’s Interior Minister claimed that Haq was killed in Pakistan, but Pakistan has not provided any evidence to back up the assertion. The Turkistan Islamic Party has not issued a martyrdom statement announcing Haq’s death, nor has it named a replacement leader. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Haq’s death.
Haq was rumored to have been killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan on Feb. 15, but the report was never confirmed.
6 Comments
So with 7 captured, they should be able to tell us who the other locals are that are helping the Taliban. We should be able to arrest those people as well.
Also, any of the dead that are local , we should go to their house and find out if the rest of the household was helping them. If so, they would be guilty also and should be arrested.
Its time we stopped messing around with these people who wear no uniforms and hide in the population. If the people are helping them hide, they are just as guilty as the ones who actually fire the gun.
This is good – offensive operations by the Afghan army when they get intelligence of Taliban presence. Also actual infantry fighting and Taliban captured or corpses found – much better than Pakistan’s artillery claims
Dear Bill,
Thanks a million for keeping us informed about areas of the region which are normally not covered by the mainstream media. Thank you also for avoiding yet again any mention of the Italian contingent operating in the RC-W, it means you probably are aware that the more people talk about it the less Rome will be able to keep them there – and the Spaniards cannot be left alone to cope with the situation. Having said this and having been there, though, it’s a little disturbing to read about FOB Columbus and not about FOB Todd, about Coalition Special Forces and not about the TF 45, or quite simply about the Spanish who have to be inside the wire and in bed by 8 pm, while “others” are out on patrol…
US, UK, Canadian troops have done the most fighting, i can only imagine wat/who is TF 45, im all for hitting HVT’s, any terrorist. The spanish have no guts, this is not the 1st time im reading about thier lack of discipline. NATO is a disgrace, and the members are slashing thier budgets
Just one Caveat I do agree that most of the NATO forces seem to be just going through the motions. However you have to give credit to the Spanish Medevac crews. The ones I came in contact with were more than willing to come get us when we needed them. Although some tactics might be questionable they were game nonetheless and came whenever called for which I am very appreciative. At the time they were the only show in town for Medevac, not sure how much progress has been made in RC W to close the gap on American airframes and FSTs in that AO. Glad to see some progress being made in BMG it is definitely in need of a good clean up similar to the one in Shewan
i am sorry for this people who are not able to be protected. what is strange-there are bunch of organization who are trying to be involved in anything and everything, why they do nothing in oder to help to this region?