Around Afghanistan

Kunar Province is in the northeast corner of Afghanistan, on the border with Pakistan, and just to the north of the Khyber Pass. (map) The US operates a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Asadabad, the provincial capital.

There has been fighting in this province of late. Bakhtar reports today:

Twenty terrorists were killed and eight others injured as a result of clash between the coalition forces and terrorists in Watapor district of Kunar province last night.

The district governor of Wetapor province told to BIA: The terrorists attacked a coalition forces caravan. During the clash took place between the sides twenty terrorists were killed and eight others injured.

NATO reported today:

One child was killed, five ISAF soldiers and three local nationals were wounded in an insurgent attack today in Kunar province, located in eastern Afghanistan.

A 10-year-old boy was killed as two insurgent rounds missed their mark in a village in Nari District.

Five ISAF soldiers and three local nationals were also wounded in the same attack.

Pfc. Joseph Miracle, of the 503d Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173d Airborne Brigade, was killed in the Watapor Valley on July 5.

In Uruzgan Province, the Taliban attacked some Australian engineers. The Aussies returned fire. (You can listen to Lieutenant Colonel Harry Jarvie, Commanding Officer Reconstruction Taskforce, describing the incident here and here.)



Last Friday, Afghan and US-led troops killed 33 Taliban in Uruzgan Province.

Today (July 10) a suicide bomber killed 17 and wounded 30 in a bazaar in Uruzgan province. In 2005 there were only 17 or so suicide attacks. In 2006, around 120. So far this year, there have been over 70 suicide attacks.

In Helmand Province, where there is heavy fighting (see my posts on Operation Ghartse Gar) as NATO forces work to push the Taliban away from the Helmand River, IRIN reports many civilians are being displaced.

About 2,000 people, mostly women and children, have left their homes in several parts of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, fleeing heavy fighting between Taliban insurgents and NATO-led forces.

"We left our home and immovable property in Ghezak [a village in Gherishk District of Helmand Province] because of growing armed conflicts," Mohammad Qasim, a displaced father of five, told IRIN in Gherishk.

Another family in Lashkargah, the provincial capital of Helmand Province, said they had left their village in Sangeen District after their house was destroyed in the fighting.

In SE Afghanistan, a Taliban commander was killed in Paktiya province.

Afghan national security forces and coalition advisors using accurate intelligence located and killed a key Taliban leader and discovered a weapons cache near Aram Village, in Paktya province.

The Taliban leader slain in the attack was a mid-level field commander and improvised explosive device-cell leader, known only as “Commander Saleem,” military officials said. The commander had led and conducted attacks that killed numerous Afghan and coalition forces.

Saleem also served as a Taliban communications officer, distributing letters and disseminating insurgent propaganda designed to terrorize the local population into complying with Taliban objectives, officials said.

A soldier from Fort Stewart died July 6 after his vehicle hit an IED in the Wazi Khwa area of Paktika province.

I also meant to mention earlier, on June 15 Mastor Sergeant Lilley of 7th Special Forces Group was killed in Shkin, which is a base high up in Paktika province. Global Security says:

It is located in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan in Paktika province. After hours, when they find the time, are filled with various activities such as basketball, spades, volleyball, dominos, and the occasional rocket attack.

Shkin fire base is located about 4 miles from the Pakistan boarder at an elevation of 7800ft. Living conditions here at Shkin are not the greatest, but soldier make due with what they have. The buildings that they live in are made out of mud and they keep the heat in very well and the lack of air conditioners make it even better.

Being so close to Pakistan (and on the other side of the border is restive South Waziristan), this is a good spot to run into Taliban coming across the border. I don't know what the Special Forces are doing there exactly, but hopefully they're providing the Taliban with a warm welcome.

Finally, General Dan McNeill, head of NATO ISAF, talked about the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan.

There have been claims that battle-hardened fighters in Iraq are influencing the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan where rebel tactics, such as suicide bombings, echo those used with more devastating effect in the Iraqi violence. McNeill described these foreign fighters, whom he could not quantify, as “a lot more extreme than your typical Taliban extremist.”

“These days we’re seeing some improved tactics, they are fighting a little harder and maybe a little better,” added the general who commands 35,500 soldiers from 37 nations. “Some of them are foreigners, of Asian or Arabic descent. We have both captured and killed some of those. But I don’t have anything clear that says the Iranians are doing this,” he said. The discovery of Iranian-made weapons in Afghanistan and destined for the Taliban has raised alarm about Tehran’s possible involvement in the complex insurgency, which has intensified into the summer. Weapons probably of Iranian origin had been found on the battlefield and in a convoy intercepted this year which contained munitions and a plastic explosive dressed up to look like a US-made version and used in Iraq, McNeill said.