Operation Maiwand continues

Operation Maiwand began in Afghanistan at the beginning of the month and is described as "the first Afghan-planned and executed operation to clear Taleban fighters" from Ghazni Province in eastern Afghanistan. (See also this video report as part of the 6/23 installment of Freedom Watch, out of Bagram. See this photo gallery of the Ghazni mission, taken by a 4th BCT photographer.)

The US forces in support of this operation are from Task Force Fury, which is the 4th BCT of the 82nd Airborne, commanded by Col. Schweitzer.

Col. Schweitzer and General Khaliq were just at the Pentagon this past week and gave a briefing about ongoing operations.

COL. SCHWEITZER: We've got 473 and 2508, [two subordinate units of the 4th BCT; the 2508 lost a soldier on Thursday] as well as one of the four PRTs that are organized underneath our Tactical Operations Center here forward in Ghazni working for General Khaliq in support of Operation Maiwand.

GEN. KHALIQ: Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is a big honor for me to take part in this VTC conference. I just want to tell you in brief about the Operation Maiwand, which is the first operation planned, resourced and executed by the Afghan Army.

This operation, almost -- over 1,400 soldiers and officers have participated. And within these 20 days of operation, we have opened the schools, clinics and the community centers, which the Taliban claimed that the ANA and the ANP would not be able to open it. And also, we had committed about -- over 27 shuras -- that is the local meeting, where the government leaders and – (inaudible) -- with the local elders, which is very, very critical and important for their contact with their governments.

And also, within this operation, the ANA and ANP -- this is our National Police -- we have worked together with the support of the 4th Brigade of 82nd Airborne Division. We have achieved a lot of success in this operation. Just now the people -- (audio break) -- of these four districts which we are operating in this, the districts of Giro, Andal, Karabakh and Diyak, which belongs to the Ghazni province. They are supporting the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the enemy has been separated from them. They are just hating the enemy, because they understood that the enemy, that is -- that the Taliban and the al Qaeda net they are not giving them any good things, and that is the government of Afghanistan which always works for its people and give the people a very good condition of life.

During this -- within these 20 days of operations, we have delivered over 180 tons of humanitarian help; and as – (inaudible) -- we have given over 18,000 men, women and children their medical treatments; and as far as -- (inaudible) -- we have opened the school, as I told before.

And also the -- within this time of operation, the Taliban, they couldn't engage directly with the ANA and ANP because they know that they don't have such force and resistance to have -- directly engage with the ANA. They are -- they have divided in small groups, and all the people of this province, they know about their bad behavior with the people. And they were laughing that the ANA and ANP, they would not be able to get in and start the schools and the community centers. But they were all lies, and now they lost their -- (inaudible) -- on the people, and the people all are ready in supporting the government. They have already hated the Taliban. And they said that they would never allow the Taliban to govern on them in their district.

(As an example of Task Force Fury doing just this sort of work, see the article on page 8 (PDF) of the May issue of Task Force Fury Focus.)

Ghazni is in the southeast corner of Afghanistan, about halfway between Kabul and Kandahar. (See this map, or this NATO ISAF map.) The four provinces mentioned above (see this map) are up against Paktika province, a hotbed of Taliban activity, which itself is on the border with Pakistan, and so this area is a prime swim lane for support coming across from Pakistan. (And Paktika is across the border from South Waziristan, an area the Pak government essentially ceded to the Taliban. See Bill Roggio's work.) So, this is a good area in which to try and build a firewall.

Such an operation threatens the Taliban. One, it is led by Afghans, and two, it is designed to separate the people from the Taliban. As such, the Taliban are reacting.

Saturday, there was this news:

Afghan and Coalition forces detained 20 militants in operations early Saturday against al-Qaida militants at three compounds in Giro district of Ghazni Province.

Coalition forces acted on credible intelligence that pointed to the various compounds as sheltering al-Qaida fighters. Al-Qaida fighters fired rocket propelled grenades and machine guns at the Coalition forces as they approached one of the compounds; the forces returned fire, killing the assailants.

The Taliban will seek to teach the people the perils of throwing in with official Afghan authorities, and the Americans. (See related video.)

Taliban fighters have seized 18 Afghan mine clearing experts and threatened to kill them if investigations suggest they are working for U.S.-led forces in the country, officials and the insurgents said on Sunday.

The group was seized along with four specialist mine-sniffing dogs, which can take years to train, on Saturday in the Andar district of Ghazni province, part of the eastern and southern "badlands" where the Taliban are at their strongest.

Also,

Security officials Saturday claimed killing nine Taliban fighters in Qarabagh district of the southern Ghazni province. Two policemen also perished in the clash.

Provincial police chief Brig-Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai said. A firefight ensued as Taliban fighters attacked police with light and heavy arms fire in Gawmishak area of Qarabagh.

Five Pakistanis were detained in Ghazni on Friday. There have been other gun battles between the good guys and the Taliban as well.

One last note. Maiwand, a village in Helmand province, was the site of an important battle in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. An Afghan force defeated a British force, although at great cost. (In particular as many as 4000 Ghazis had been killed.) Hopefully this operation will take as its inspiration an Afghan victory, without duplicating the casualties for the victorious army.

An encouraging sign: the Taliban are getting pasted.

Security forces killed over 1,500 insurgents across Afghanistan since March and hundreds more were captured including two-dozen would-be suicide bombers, the government said on Saturday.

The interior ministry said in a statement the figures were a ”good achievement”.

It said Afghan soldiers and their foreign counterparts had killed 1,554 insurgents in about 80 anti-Taleban operations across Afghanistan since March.

About 530 militants, including 23 would-be suicide bombers, were captured.

In posts to come, we'll look at what Task Force Fury has been doing in the active Paktika province.

(Captain Ed has an upcoming interview with the ambassador from Afghanistan. Tune in.)

With the promise this kind of action holds for Afghanistgan, it's a shame that the defeatists in Washington want us to surrender, even though Strategy Page points out the Taliban are feeling the pressure.

See also: Operation Maiwand update (6/26)
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