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| Afghanistan | |
| Forces Will Try to Retake Afghan Towns | |
| 2006-07-18 | |
| U.S.-led forces will launch 'decisive operations' to reclaim two southern towns captured in recent days by the Taliban, the military said Tuesday. Scores of Taliban militants chased police out of two southern Helmand districts near the Pakistani border. 'The Taliban extremists have taken control of the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, however, coalition forces do have them under observation,' military spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul. 'Decisive operations will begin soon,' he added without saying when.
Additional: KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan troops on Tuesday prepared to deploy to a town in southern Afghanistan that one official said had been overrun by Pakistani militants. Between 300 and 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. “Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban,” he said. In Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba – an outlawed militant organization – and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – a pro-Taliban political party – of taking over Garmser. Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants – Naway-i-Barakzayi – was reclaimed by government forces late Monday. “They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag in the district,” Sidiqi told reporters. While Taliban militants have long operated freely in former southern stronghold provinces, their capture of a town highlights the weakness of Afghanistan's police forces in remote areas and the challenge ahead of U.S.-coalition troops to restore order in the country. Afghan officials have said scores of Taliban fighters, many crossing into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, fought Garmser's small contingent of policemen – holed up in a concrete compound – for 16 days before the police were forced to withdraw Sunday. “The government of Afghanistan has technically and temporarily left Garmser,” Sidiqi said. “We did so to prevent casualties to civilian people.” Helmand is one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions, where Taliban extremists and heavily armed opium farmers have long operated freely. But stepped up coalition-led military operations in the province since June have pitted foreign troops and Islamic extremists against each other in some of Afghanistan's deadliest fighting since the Taliban's 2001 ouster. About 4,000 NATO-led British soldiers are deploying to Helmand to take over security control from U.S. forces at the end of the month. Sidiqi said a large group of Taliban that had stormed Naway-i-Barakzayi, to the north of Garmser, and briefly took control there Monday were turned back later in the day. Coalition military officials confirmed enemy “activity” in the areas but declined to comment further, saying only they were looking into the reports. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Would 'decisive' mean more than a platoon? |
| Posted by: Brett 2006-07-18 14:15 |
| #2 geographical coincidence, Big Jim |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-07-18 11:50 |
| #1 Always near the Pakistan border too. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-18 11:39 |