Coalition, Afghan forces kill 14 Taliban in Uruzgan

Coalition and Afghan troops killed 14 Taliban fighters during an engagement yesterday in a southern province that has been a bastion for the insurgency and a haven for al Qaeda and Pakistani terror groups.

The incident began when an Afghan and Coalition patrol that was planning to conduct an engagement with tribal elders was ambushed after crossing a river in Uruzgan province. The Taliban employed heavy weapons during the attack, including a DShK machinegun, pinning the patrol down. Coalition troops called in air support, killing three Taliban fighters, but the Taliban were able to redeploy the DShK while 15 fighters regrouped for an attack.

In two subsequent airstrikes, 11 Taliban fighters were killed and the heavy machine gun was destroyed. No civilians were killed or wounded in the airstrikes, according to the International Security Assistance Force.

Since Sept. 1, dozens of Taliban fighters and several commanders, including Shaki Mama, have been killed or captured during operations in Uruzgan. Shaki Mama, who died in an airstrike, planned, coordinated, and executed attacks, and “supplied IEDs to local insurgents and directed suicide attacks” against Afghan and Coalition security forces, ISAF stated.

Uruzgan province has been a Taliban stronghold and has served as a haven for leaders operating in Kandahar and Helmand province. During a raid on Sept. 11, Coalition and Afghan forces captured “the Taliban regional commander responsible for western Kandahar province” who “supported area sub-commanders and helped supply Taliban safe havens outside Kandahar City.”

The Taliban had “an established and recognized [shadow] government in every district except Deh Rawud,” according to a September 2009 report on Uruzgan by The Liaison Office, an Afghan non-governmental organization. In the spring of this year, local villagers in the district of Gizab rose up against the Taliban and ejected them from the area.

Uruzgan also serves as a haven for “Arabs and Pakistanis,” who aid in the planning and execution of “large-scale offensives,” according to The Liaison Office report on Uruzgan:

In Gizab, TLO received reports of Pakistani terrorist organizations and Iranian intelligence operatives active in the area; in Khas Uruzgan TLO received reports of an Iranian presence in the Hazara areas. Whenever large-scale offensives are planned, foreign fighters (mostly Arabs and Pakistanis) join in with local insurgents. Foreign elements reportedly control most suicide attacks and play a supervisory roll vis-

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan