A senior member of the Kabul Attack Network was killed yesterday during a Coalition airstrike in the central Afghan province.
The commander, who was identified as Nur Mohammed, was described as “a senior commander involved in improvised explosive device and suicide attacks in Kabul city,” in an International Security Assistance Force press release.
Mohammed and two associates were killed in “a precision airstrike” in the district of Musahi in Kabul province. A Coalition ground security force followed up the airstrike and recovered the bodies of Mohammed and the two Taliban fighters. “The security force also found multiple automatic weapons, grenades and IED material, including multiple remote IED triggers and blasting caps in the insurgents’ possession.”
“Officials confirmed he [Mohammed] conducted attacks and was planning imminent attacks in Kabul city prior to the Sept. 18 elections,” ISAF stated.
Mohammed was a member of the Kabul Attack Network, a US military officer told The Long War Journal. The Kabul Attack Network is the Taliban group responsible for carrying out attacks in and around the Afghan capital. It is made up of fighters from the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and cooperates with terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaeda. Top Afghan intelligence officials have linked the Kabul Attack Network to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate as well.
The Kabul Attack Network is led by Dawood (or Daud) and Taj Mir Jawad, military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Dawood is the Taliban’s shadow governor for Kabul, while Taj Mir Jawad is a top commander in the Haqqani Network. In the US military files recently released by Wikileaks, Taj Mir Jawad is identified as a top Haqqani Network leader.
ISAF and Afghan forces have been targeting the Kabul Attack Network over the past several months. Most recently, on Aug. 26, combined forces captured Zia Ul Haq, a senior Taliban commander operating in Logar province who was responsible for the facilitation of foreign fighters and suicide bombers into Kabul.
6 Comments
Nur Mohammed, could this be [Maulana Nur Mohammed] of the “important” Shaldara Madrassa. Quetta. 1994. First madrassa to send it’s students to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Students would carry messages back & fourth. Which was a Major meeting place for Taliban Commanders.
Maulana Abdul Qadir , Deputy of the Madrassa.
Source: ‘Descent into Chaos’ by Ahmed Rashid
The precision of these attacks and the liquidation of high value targets show that Taliban is crumbling and dissipating.
Doesn’t that show that there is a high value spy or spies among the Taliban leaders who are telling our boys on their whereabout?
Great job, guys. Keep it up, until we see the end of the Taliban cruelty and its wicked ideology.
Rather than prove our cleverness…
It’s best for the West if all speculation about how the ISAF is thwarting the fanatics be kept to ourselves.
I’ve got all kinds of ideas as to what is really going on.
Hence, I don’t post them.
If lose lips sink ships — and they did — then clever speculation can only point the way for the enemy.
So let’s stop posting on the topic.
Please?
@BT You don’t need to posit a single “high level” spy for this effectiveness of current operations.
I don’t think any info here helps the opposition. No one posting here has clearance so none of us can know. The loose lips phrase refers to info that one knows not that one can think up. This isn’t WW2: we have the internet now.
The opposition knows to a certain extent what our capabilities are. They probably know a lot less about order of battle and the current state of knowledge of their order of battle. The problem is (aside from killing HUMINT apparent sources who may or may not be spies) there is very little they can do about our intel aside from taking all reasonable precautions e.g. not using radio; not using telephone; not moving around in large groups. In fact the more they know they more they have to limit their communications and movement of their leadership (and that’s a good thing). You can use their knowledge for deception operations too.
The surge appears to have brought an increased tempo of ISAF SF operations aimed killing and capturing people in leadership positions and obtaining other intelligence. Each of these captures enables a better insight into the oppositions organization and operations. Hence another mission and more people and intel captured. Combine this with the efforts of the CIA (HUMINT, IMGINT), DIA (HUMINT, IMGINT), NSA (SIGINT, ELINT) and NRO (IMGINT) plus info from other intelligence organizations.
The intel work across all the orgs is all about collecting, interpreting, verifying and using the intel collected in the most effective way possible.
BTW, a lot of these “precision” strikes are probably armed UAVs strikes: the US Army, USAF, RAF, CIA and perhaps others are using them all over AFPAK not just in Pakistan.
“another mission and more people and intel captured”
That’s it exactly. The increased live captures we’re getting combined with their declining morale results in more and more information during interrogations. It’s a multiplying domino effect. It’s anti-terror 101.
Love the follow up by ground troops. Apparently, we can do this easier in Afghanistan than in Pakistan where sometimes it seems we don’t know much about what we’ve hit.
If you can’t go in there, you most certainly have found a hot spot of enemy activity.
Good job guys. Stay safe.