1 The Long War Journal: Scores killed in clashes in western and northern Afghanistan

Written by Bill Roggio on September 12, 2009 2:20 PM to 1 The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/09/afghan_and_coalition_1.php

Map of Afghanistan showing Taliban control. Kunduz and Baghlan provinces are directly north of Kabul; Farah is directly south of Herat. Data from Afghanistan's Interior Ministry; map from Reuters.

Afghan and Coalition troops battled the Taliban in western and northern Afghanistan on Saturday, resulting in more than 60 Taliban fighters and 14 Afghan soldiers and policemen killed.

In the West, Afghan and US troops fought a pitched battle in the Bala Buluk district in Farah province after the Taliban attacked a United Nations humanitarian convoy.

More than 50 Taliban fighters and seven Afghan soldiers were killed during the fighting, Afghan military spokesman Abdul Basir Ghori told Xinhua. He also said two US soldiers were killed during the fighting. This was later confirmed by the US military.

The Bala Buluk district was the scene of a clash in June that resulted in the death of 16 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. During the June battle, US and Afghan troops killed the Taliban's deputy shadow governor for the province and an Arab al Qaeda trainer fighter who was described as a suicide attack mastermind and an expert on building improvised explosive devices.

In the northern province of Kunduz, a US airstrike killed 10 Taliban fighters, and the Taliban killed seven policemen during an attack on a police station.

An Afghan official said the airstrike occurred in the early morning in the village of Wazir near Kunduz city. The International Security Assistance Force did not confirm the strike, but did say its forces accompanied Afghan troops on a raid on a compound near the village of Torbah Kash, northeast of Kunduz City.

The joint force sought "facilitators and commanders responsible for attacks on Afghan citizens and for aiding the flow of money, foreign fighters and suicide bombers into the region," according to a US military press release. An unspecified number of Taliban fighters were killed and captured.

The Taliban killed seven policemen during an attack on a checkpoint in the Imam Sahib district late Friday night. Two policemen have gone missing and are suspected of having links to the Taliban.

The situation in Kunduz province has rapidly deteriorated over the past two years. Attacks in Kunduz have spiked over the past two months as the Taliban has sought to disrupt NATO's new supply line from Tajikistan to the north.

Of the seven districts in Kunduz province, only two are considered under government control; the rest of the districts - Chahara Dara, Dashti Archi, Ali Abab, Khan Abad, and Iman Sahib - are considered contested or under Taliban control, according to a map produced by Afghanistan's Interior Ministry. Two districts in neighboring Baghlan province - Baghlan-i-Jadid and Burka - are under the control of the Taliban [see LWJ report, Afghan forces and Taliban clash in Kunduz, and Threat Matrix report, Afghanistan's wild-wild North].

Fighting in Kunduz has intensified over the past month despite a series of operations launched in the spring and summer to drive out the Taliban.

The Taliban have conducted assaults against police checkpoints, killed senior political and military leaders, and kidnapped civilians sending their daughters to school.

Some of the largest battles since the beginning of September have taken place in Kunduz. On Sept. 3, Afghan security forces killed 15 Taliban fighters and claimed the Taliban's shadow governor was also killed.

On Sept. 4, a NATO airstrike in the Ali Abad district killed scores of Taliban fighters and civilians after the Taliban hijacked two oil tankers. After stalling in a riverbed, the tankers were hit while surrounded by scores of Taliban fighters and also civilians who had flocked there to offload fuel.

On Sept. 5, the Taliban kidnapped a Western reporter and an Afghan reporter in Kunduz. On Sept. 9, British commandos conducted a raid to rescue the two reporters. The Afghan reporter, two civilians, a commando, and an unspecified number of Taliban fighters were killed during the rescue.