Afghan national army soldiers, advised by coalition forces, killed 20 armed militants in Kajaki District, Helmand province, April 1.

In a continuous effort to deny militant freedom of movement, the ANA-led force conducted a combat reconnaissance patrol in an area of known militant presence. While conducting a dismounted patrol, the combined elements were attacked by dozens of armed militants with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. The ANA-led force returned fire, causing the enemy to withdraw to secondary fighting positions.

The ANA and coalition forces positively identified the enemy fighting position as the militants regrouped. Once the combined elements ensured there were no non-combatants in the area, a precision strike was called to neutralize the enemy.

Twenty militants were killed in the engagement. No ANA, coalition forces or non-combatant injuries were reported.

“The ANA soldiers and coalition forces work side-by-side in pursuit of militants who are quickly losing their ability to operate in Helmand province,” said Col. Greg Julian, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesperson.

DVIDS

Afghan and coalition forces killed 12 militants March 27, during a raid of a militant location to further degrade bomb-making and facilitation networks in northern Helmand province.

In Nahr Surk District, Helmand province, approximately 125 km west of Kandahar, Afghan and coalition forces targeted a compound housing militants. When the assault force arrived at the targeted location, militants positioned south of the compound immediately began attacking the force using small-arms fire. The forces returned fire and called for supporting fire to diminish the threat of the militants who were concealed in a line of trees and maneuvering in a field, resulting in four enemies killed.

Having eliminated the immediate threats, the assault force proceeded to the target, meeting resistance from militants located inside buildings on the compound.

Aware that women and children may be inside, Afghan forces called out for non-combatants to exit the buildings, but none complied. The assault force attempted to clear one building where two militants had barricaded themselves behind women and children. When the assault force encountered the armed militants, they killed them without harming the non-combatants.

As they continued to clear the compound, the force began receiving small-arms fire from multiple barricaded shooters inside another building. The assault force proceeded to clear the rest of the compound without incident.

Nine women and 20 children were protected despite the militants using a common Taliban tactic of placing innocent civilians in harm’s way. One child received a minor injury during the engagement and received immediate care from a coalition medic with no further treatment required.

DVIDS

Vital new medical equipment donated by Estonia was delivered this week to the recently refurbished Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

The life-saving equipment and supplies were delivered to Kandahar Airfield and then transported by Afghan convoy to the outskirts of Lashkar Gah with the protection of the Estonian infantry company who operate out of the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team base.

The hospital was built and equipped in 1965, and despite being one of the few provincial hospitals equipped to standards required by the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health, it still struggles with the lack of equipment and trained personnel.

“This equipment, donated by Estonia, will provide a big boost to the capability of the hospital,” said Dr. Argo Parts, of the Estonian Special Mission to Afghanistan. “The equipment will help to provide the operating rooms and the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital with an all-important oxygen provision system, which will ultimately save lives.”

ISAF

ISAF is aware of an incident that took place in the area of Nad-i-Ali, Helmand province this morning where ISAF forces, operating in support of an ANA operation, came under heavy and sustained fire from a clearly identified compound.

After sustained contact from the enemy from numerous positions, and having exhausted all other means of extracting themselves from the area, they called for close air support.

Two targeted air strikes were carried out as a last resort to enable the joint patrol to leave the area safely.

An investigation is ongoing. ISAF can confirm that 2 people were killed and 6 others injured. These individuals were brought to an ISAF base in Nad-i-Ali after the incident. The cause and status of these casualties has yet to be established and is subject to investigation.

After initial medical treatment, the 4 most seriously injured casualties were taken to the ISAF hospital at Camp Bastion. The 2 others remained at the ISAF base. Of the 4 taken to the ISAF hospital, 2 have since been detained. The 2 less seriously injured casualties, who stayed at the ISAF base in Nad-i-Ali, have also been detained.

Spokesman for Governor Ghulab Mangal, Daoud Ahmadi, said: “Taliban fighters have always ruthlessly used religious places, public buildings and civilian houses as their bases, which causes civilian casualties.

“Their actions are contrary to Islamic rules and Afghan behaviour.”

ISAF

Afghan army commandos and their coalition partners killed four militants while simultaneously protecting nearly 90 civilians in an early morning operation today in western Afghanistan, military officials reported.

The combined forces were conducting a raid on a compound, targeting a Taliban commander in Farah province’s Dowlatabad village when they received fire from several enemy fighting positions. The combined forces quickly returned fire and also established a security perimeter to protect the civilians, who included 30 children, officials said.

The exchange of fire resulted in the deaths of four enemy fighters who local residents confirmed were Taliban militants.

During the search for more militants, commandos discovered a fully operational explosive device in a local mosque. Commandos removed the bomb and destroyed it. The detonation caused minor damage to the mosque’s exterior wall, for which the commandos provided compensation to village elders. The operation also uncovered numerous small arms weapons and bomb-making materials.

No Afghan, coalition or civilian casualties resulted from the operation, officials said.

In other news from Afghanistan, Afghan and coalition forces killed 10 militants near Highway 1 in the Nahr Surkh district of Helmand province yesterday. The forces were conducting a security patrol when they were attacked by militants with small-arms and machine-gun fire. They returned fire, killing the 10 militants.

During the engagement, an Afghan soldier was shot in the back. He was treated on site and transported to a nearby Coalition medical facility. No other Afghan or coalition forces or civilians were injured during the engagement, officials said.

Also yesterday, Afghan and coalition forces killed four armed militants and detained eight others yesterday during an operation in Kapisa province in which an Afghan woman and child were injured when the insurgents used them as human shields, officials said.

In the Tagab district, coalition forces provided medical care to the Afghan woman and child, whom the forces believe lived with the militants. The two were injured when one of the militants detonated a hand grenade. They are recovering at a military hospital, officials said.

The operation targeted the Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin terrorist network, which is known to plan and coordinate attacks against civilians and coalition forces, including an attack in August that killed 10 French soldiers, officials said.

As the force attempted to search the compound, they received a large volume of small-arms fire and hand grenades from militants barricaded in a section of the compound. Coalition forces responded with small-arms fire and killed them.

A search of the compound revealed multiple AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and other military equipment, which were destroyed to prevent future use. The force detained three suspected militants as a result of the operation.

In Khowst province, Afghan and coalition forces captured a targeted Haqqani terrorist network operative and five other suspects during a combined operation in the Mandozai district. The wanted man is a suspect in roadside and suicide bombings, officials said. Troops searched the compound without incident.

DVIDS

Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces Saturday night killed 38 militants in the Nahr Surkh District, Helmand province.

ANSF and Coalition forces were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol when they positively identified armed militants operating in the area. The combined forces engaged the militants with direct and supporting fires, killing 38 militants and destroying two militant vehicles.

One militant was wounded, treated and taken in to custody by the ANSF.

The combined forces confiscated an 82-mm recoilless rifle, a machine gun and several AK-47s from the site of the engagement.

No ANSF, Coalition forces or civilian casualties have been reported.

CJTF-101

Afghan national security forces and coalition forces killed several militants in Nahr Surkh District, Helmand province, Oct. 8, 2008, when their security patrol was attacked with small-arms and rocket propelled grenade fire.

ANSF and coalition forces responded to the attack with small-arms, rocket propelled grenade and supporting fires, killing nine militants.

No ANSF, coalition forces or civilian casualties have been reported.

Note: There were two separate engagements on Oct. 8, 2008, in Nahr Surkh District, both killing nine militants.

DVIDS

ISAF is aware of media reports that an operation in the Baram Cha area of southern Helmand in which a number of insurgents are reported to have been killed.

ISAF can confirm that an operation was conducted in that area the evening of October 12 against a small group of Taliban commanders.

After positively identifying these insurgents, ISAF attacked them with precision air strikes, killing the insurgents and destroying two of their vehicles.

ISAF

Big things are happening in a small clinic a few miles outside Camp Bastion- the kind of things that change the collective ideas of a group of people.

At the Shorabak clinic, everything looks like business-as-usual, at first. People come in, many of them locals, get treated and leave a little healthier and hopefully a little better informed than when they came in.

The facility itself isn’t anything out of the ordinary. The building belongs to the Afghan national army and is shared between a group of ANA medics and a small team of medics with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force.

Sit down and stay a while though and someone might see something that isn’t seen every day at military clinics, local females coming in for care. That’s because at the Shorabak clinic, they have something special, a team of female medics who treat local females.

Females coming to military bases for care may not seem strange to those from other areas of the world, but in Afghanistan, especially in Helmand province, this is the first time females have been allowed to seek treatment at a military facility, according to an interpreter who works with the CJSOTAF team.

One of the members of the female treatment team is an Army captain who has been working at the clinic for approximately two months. For security reasons, her name will not be mentioned in this article. In her job at home, she’s a primary care provider at her base’s medical clinic.

The captain said she provides the same basic primary medical care she does back home. Diseases are often more progressed than in the states due to lack of available health care; however, the extent of service she provides is the same. The big difference from her job in the states is that here she’s creating an opportunity for a whole sector of the population to receive care that would have been otherwise unavailable.

As an example, an elderly woman came in for follow-up checks on three gun shot wounds. She was shot by the Taliban while working in the fields by her home. The captain and another medic from the team checked her wounds, which were healing well.

The captain said she sees her work as not just providing medical care to the men, women and children who come to the clinic, but also helping to change how Afghan society views the role of females.

One way the captain said she is changing this collective mind set is that she’s a female doing a job that many Afghanis are not accustomed to seeing females perform.

“I think it’s extremely valuable just for the men that come here to see me as a female,” the captain said. “It changes their definition.

“In their culture, for any type of change to occur — because it’s a patriarchic society — men have to accept the changes. So for them to be able to see me as a female in the role of a professional health care provider helps them to see that change might be a good thing,” she explained. “It’s just something they’re not ever exposed to here within their own culture.”

The captain said the men who come to the clinic don’t have any problems being treated by a female. If anything, they’re glad to receive care first and perhaps secondly surprised to be receiving care from a female.

An interpreter who works directly with the captain agreed with her statements. He also added these changes in perception are allowing women to be allowed to seek treatment for the first time on military bases.

The captain said if it wasn’t for the changes in perception the FTT is making, it would not be possible for people like the woman with the gun shot wounds to come to the clinic to get help. They would have to either wait until a medical team went out to them or simply go without.

The captain said it is her hope that her presence and work is changing the perception of the roles available for women and that perhaps one day these changes will grow into a better quality of life for Afghans, specifically in the mortality rates associated with childbirth.

“According to the World Health Organization, there are only a couple nations in sub-Saharan Africa with worse maternal and infant mortality rates than Afghanistan,” the captain said. “Most women in Afghanistan, especially here in the Helmand valley, give birth in the home without a midwife, without a doctor, with no medical care at all.”

The captain said the solution is getting more young women into midwife schools, such as the one currently running in Kabul. The problem, however, is the girls need a high school diploma to attend and many areas in Afghanistan have just recently started allowing women to progress their education as far as high school, which is something else she hopes her presence will help reinforce.

More than anything, the captain said her goal is to make lasting changes in the lives of the Afghan people and for that reason, the focus of their mission is reinforcing the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

“We try to put an Afghan face on what we do because we want people to accept the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” the captain said. “It’s very important that the people support and work with the government. That’s the long term goal.”

DVIDS
By Senior Airman George Cloutier
American Forces Network Afghanistan

ISAF units in Helmand provided medical care to several civilians who came to ISAF installations for treatment of blast and fragmentation wounds August 31.

More than 20 wounded civilians arrived at two ISAF bases. ISAF immediately treated those with the most severe injuries, and those with minor injuries received money for taxis to local hospitals or to Lashkar Gah.

One treated civilian said his village, Sarevan Qal’eh, was attacked the evening of Aug. 30. Insurgents ransacked three compounds and killed three women and an unspecified number of children. He then reported that the insurgents had shot him in both kneecaps before fleeing. He believed that the insurgents attacked his village because some villagers had been seen talking with ISAF troops in the last week.

Other civilians, who were treated at a different ISAF base, said they had fled into the desert when their village near Kshatan Malazay sustained a series of explosions. They attempted to return to bury their dead but were unable to due to the continued fire. They collected their wounded and headed east across the desert when four of the village elders made their way towards the mountains to broker a local ceasefire in order to recover their dead from four unknown men in green fatigues.

The elders were detained until the evening of Aug. 31 at which time they were allowed to return to their family group and the village. On their way back to their village, the civilians were attacked from an unknown source leading them to seek medical help from ISAF bases.

The overall situation remains confused.

Neither ISAF nor the U.S.-led coalition forces have reported operations in the immediate vicinity of these events. ISAF is in the process of gathering further information from civilians in the area and analysing bits of the fragmentation to determine the nature of the munitions used.

ISAF

In the early morning hours of September 2, Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) successfully delivered a new turbine to Kajaki Dam in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

The result of the operation will be a much needed increase in capacity to generate electrical power, which will create a better quality of life for Afghan people in southern Afghanistan.

The multinational convoy travelled 180km over road and desert tracks to reach its destination. 4,000 ANSF and ISAF troops were involved in the operation, including United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Denmark and Australia, providing security to the convoy and dominating the ground around it.

The project, supported by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), is one part of the international community’s effort towards redevelopment in the southern region, and has been funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Even though it was just one step in a much wider and more long-term reconstruction project, this operation clearly demonstrated ANSF and ISAF commitment to the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan,” says Major General Lessard, Commander of ISAF Regional Command South. “ANSF and ISAF believe that the population of Afghanistan are entitled to live in honour and dignity and will stay the course to help them to have a normal life,” he added.

“Despite the disruptive effort from the insurgents, we achieved our goal and delivered the new turbine to Kajaki Dam,” Major General Lessard stated “the insurgents’ efforts have not been successful. They will not win and are not winning in the southern region.”

This project demonstrates the long term commitment of GIRoA and ISAF to support development and growth in southern Afghanistan.

ISAF

Afghan national security forces and coalition forces killed more than 220 militants during operations in Helmand province, Aug. 25-30, 2008.

ANSF and coalition forces were attacked repeatedly by militants with small-arms and heavy-weapons fire during multiple engagements. The soldiers responded with small-arms fire, heavy-weapons and close air support, eliminating the militant threats.

Operations in the area lead to the discovery and destruction of multiple weapons caches containing ammonium nitrate, 107mm rockets, motorcycles, 60mm mortar rounds, pipe bombs, machine guns, rifles and small-arms ammunition. Several fortified fighting positions were also destroyed.

No ANSF or coalition forces service members have been killed during operations.

DVIDS

Afghan national security forces and coalition forces killed over 100 insurgents during combat operations in Helmand province, Aug. 25-28, 2008.

ANSF and coalition forces were conducting security patrols in the province when they were attacked multiple times by insurgents using small-arms, rocket propelled grenade and mortar fire, sparking numerous engagements.

The patrols returned fire and called in close-air support against the insurgents.

These events are related to an ongoing operation.

No ANSF, coalition forces or civilian casualties were reported.

DVIDS

One of the keys to Garmsir’s resurgence has been the reopening of the city district bazaar. Before Marines liberated the area, the bazaar had been mostly dormant for more than two years.

With Garmsir’s streets clear of insurgents the next steps in the counterinsurgency campaign, reconstruction and renovation, can begin with the district governor’s priorities including repairs to the irrigation system, and refurbishment of the hospital and schools.

After years of damages caused by strife and neglect, a canal system built by USAID in the 1950’s is in desperate need of repair. USAID engineers, finally able to evaluate the irrigation system, identified 11 problem areas, including damage from ongoing conflicts and overgrowth of vegetation.

Garmsir is a rich, agricultural area with farming as the basis of the local economy. Shortly after securing the area, the citizens and District Governor Abdullah Jan came to the Marines and asked for help in getting the canals repaired.

“In places, bombing had damaged sluice gates and in others the system was simply in disrepair because the government had not been able to do projects there,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rene Cote, civil affairs officer, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, NATO-ISAF. “So we worked with USAID and sought their help in funding and providing technical assistance to repair the system. We believe that the improved security and repaired canal and irrigation system will set the conditions for alternative crop programs to be introduced by the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.”

A district hospital is now providing some basic health care for the local population from unrefurbished premises. One doctor sees 80 to 100 patients daily and British forces plan to revamp the structure and décor.

“This should enable the hospital to attract more staff and to provide a more comprehensive service. People are delighted to have any healthcare in the district,” said Louise Perrotta, stabilization advisor, Task Force Helmand, ISAF.

With an eye on the future, residents have expressed repeatedly the need for a school; the one in the city district was severely damaged by insurgent fighting.

The Amir Agha School is one of nine quick impact projects planned for the region. The school will receive new windows, doors, a new well, furniture, paint and undergo a thorough cleaning.

Additional impact projects include building three irrigation wells, eight replacement wells in Jugroom Fort area villages, repairing the Amir Agha Mosque and shrine, replacing another mosque’s speaker system, and clearing overgrowth from the canal system.

These projects are designed to provide immediate benefits, such as the wells and canal cleanup, as well as to demonstrate the Marines’ respect for the populace’s religious beliefs by providing funds for their cultural institutions.

In all these projects the Marines have worked with local elders to identify needs and then provide funding. The work is performed by local Afghan contractors and workers.

“We sought to provide assistance based on local community needs. In some villages there was an urgent need to provide drinking water and irrigation so we quickly responded by getting funding and contractors to start on those. We’ve also funded repairs to a couple of village cultural buildings. These efforts will be completed before we leave,” said Cote.

In total, $20,000 will be spent improving and renovating needed facilities in the region. Ultimately this investment is intended to help the people of Garmsir help themselves.

Garmsir has a self-reliant and resilient population who regularly reply to “what do you need?” with “just security, we can do the rest,” according to Perrota.

The local Afghan governance is conducting meetings, coordinating projects, hearing local grievances, and organizing economic and social events in Garmsir, said Cote.

“I consider this significant because it re-emphasizes that they are capable of self-sufficient management and action to conduct reconstruction and development within their means,” said Lieutenant Col. Anthony Henderson, battalion commander, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, ISAF.

United States Marine Corps

Great story about a Fox News cameraman named Chris Jackson. His Marine unit was hit by and IED. He was injured but went back into the burning Humvee to help rescue a Marine. Video at the link, too.

A FOX News cameraman helped save the life of an injured Marine in Afghanistan — and was injured himself — when the armored Humvee convoy he was traveling in was struck by a roadside bomb Sunday night in the Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

Two U.S. Marines were badly injured when the improvised explosive device detonated near their convoy. Though FOX News cameraman Chris Jackson was injured in the blast, he went back to the burning vehicle to rescue one of the Marines.

“The cabin was on fire and I jumped out,” said Jackson in a report filed immediately following the attack. “I went, grabbed the sergeant out of the shotgun seat, pulled him out.”

via Grim at Blackfive