KABUL, July 23: Afghanistan’s new national army, backed by US-led forces, has launched its first major anti-Taliban combat operation in the southeast of the country, a US military spokesman said on Wednesday.
The military spokesman also said a US patrol was ambushed in northeastern Afghanistan and two US bases came under rocket attack on Tuesday, but there were no casualties.
“Two days ago, six Afghan National Army (ANA) companies numbering about 1,000 soldiers departed for the Zermat valley region in the southern Paktia province,” US Colonel Rodney Davis informed reporters at the Afghan army’s Pul-i-Charkhi barracks, 15 kilometres east of Kabul.
“Operation Warrior Sweep marks the ANA’s first major combat operation and Operation Warrior Sweep is ongoing.
“The ANA’s mission is to kill, capture and deny sanctuary to anti-coalition fighters and to disrupt anti-coalition activity in the Zermat valley region in support of the Islamic transitional government of Afghanistan,” he said.
Colonel Davis was referring to the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies and fighters of a renegade former premier, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who regularly launch attacks on foreign and government targets.
The Zermat valley region, 100 kilometres south of Kabul, was the scene of the massive Operation Anaconda assault against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in March last year.
Coalition forces last month launched two operations against suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the area.
The operation had been “planned for some time and it is not in direct response to anything that would have occurred yesterday or the day before yesterday or in the recent past”, the colonel said.
“ANA combat operations complemented by coalition security operations are designed to disrupt the anti-coalition network and advance security and stability within the region,” he said.
“The ANA will establish a long-term presence in the Zermat valley region and I’m very pleased to announce that from this point on, the ANA will be a key contributor to Afghanistan’s security.”
Colonel Davis said the nascent Afghan army now numbered 5,000 troops, against a forecast eventual strength of 70,000. The United States is leading efforts to train and rebuild the national force, a task the former commander of US-led forces, Lt Gen Dan McNeill, described as a “tough road” due to ingrained ethnic and regional suspicions and tensions.
“The Afghan National Army is now 5,000 soldiers strong. They are a trained, disciplined fighting force capable of conducting both combat and civil military affairs operations in conjunction with coalition forces,” the colonel said.
Afghan infantry troops were backed by US-led forces, but the US military official would not disclose further details of the ongoing operation or whether any fighting had occurred.
Pakistan had been informed of the operation taking place near its border, he said.
“As a matter of practice we coordinate our activities with the affected governments, so you can be assured that any government affected by this operation has been informed that the operation was launched and is currently ongoing.”
Colonel Davis said Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were located in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“There are anti-coalition forces located in Afghanistan, there are some anti-coalition forces located in Pakistan,” he said.
ATTACKS ON BASES: About the attacks on US bases, the spokesman said “coalition forces on a mounted patrol were ambushed by an unknown-sized force with small arms fire in the vicinity of Asadabad last night (Tuesday)”.
“The patrol returned fire, suppressed the enemy and drove through the ambush. There were no casualties or damage to equipment.”
Asadabad base, 180kms northeast of Kabul, has also come under regular rocket attack by Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.
In another incident, two rockets landed near Urgun-e firebase in the southeastern Paktika province on Tuesday morning, but there were no casualties.
Ghecko firebase, in Kandahar, also came under rocket attack on Tuesday night but again without casualties or damage to equipment, Colonel Davis said.
US forces killed up to 24 suspected Taliban fighters in a failed ambush near Spin Boldak, near the border with Pakistan, over the weekend.
The colonel said that attack in the Taliban’s former heartland was the biggest by the ousted militia or its allies in recent months.
“The Spin Boldak operation was probably the biggest show of force by anti-coalition forces in three months,” Colonel Davis said.
“I can say credibly that we’ve not seen any massing of anti-coalition forces for some time. The 22 or 24 that we engaged and ultimately killed in Spin Boldak area was the largest we’ve seen in quite a while,” the colonel said.
“What we’ve seen for the most part over recent months has been teams of five, perhaps 10, that engage in hit-and-run tactics but ... anti-coalition forces have not massed in recent months. However when they do mass, we kill them.”
While US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here in May that “major combat operations” were over in Afghanistan, the spokesman said that did not mean fighting had ended.
“Secretary Rumsfeld did not say that combat operations were over, he said major combat operations were over and major combat operations involve an engagement between major forces and the only major force conducting combat operations in Afghanistan is coalition task force 180,” Davis said, referring to the 11,500-strong US-led military force.—AFP