ISAF reports 1 and 2

In Helmand province a joint security force detained a suspected militant commander and several suspected militants linked to the narcotics industry in Nahri Sarraj district, during an Oct. 11 operation.

Haji Khan Mohammed is considered a senior power broker in the district, and it is believed that his drug operations provided financial support to enemy fighters throughout southern Afghanistan.

During the operation joint security forces received machine gun fire from militants shooting from multiple compounds. The forces moved the fighting away from the compounds and detained the militants.

The joint force also found a weapons cache consisting of 40 rocket propelled grenades, two ammunition vests, several thousand machine gun rounds, several five-gallon jugs used in constructing homemade explosives for roadside bombs, three AK-47s and 20 mortar rounds. The cache was destroyed on site by controlled detonation. No joint force members were injured during the operation.

A joint security force killed several militants Oct. 11, during an operation in Qalat district, Zabul province in an effort to disrupt a Taliban element believed responsible for several attacks in the region.

During the operation the joint force received hostile fire and returned fire, killing several militants.

Also during the search the joint force found an RPG, an AK-47 rifle with ammunition rounds, a pistol, a grenade, an ammunition belt and communications gear. All items were destroyed in place.

In an operation conducted in Kandahar province today, a joint security force detained one suspected militant in a compound known to be used by a Taliban facilitator and his element responsible for supplying improvised explosive devices, weapons and ammunition to other militant groups in the region.

The search in a compound northwest of Kandahar City was conducted without incident. No Afghan civilians were harmed during these operations.

Today (October 12 2009) a joint security force killed more than a dozen militants and detained a suspected militant after searching a mountainside compound in Kunar province known to be used by an al-Qaida commander and his element believed responsible for the facilitation of foreign fighters and numerous attacks in Pech Valley.

During the search of the compound located near Tantil village, northeast of Jalalabad, the force received hostile enemy fire on two occasions and returned fire, killing the enemy militants. The joint force also found a number of rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, multiple AK-47 rifles and other grenades. All items were destroyed in place.

In another operation in Ziruk district, Paktika province a joint security force detained several suspected militants today after searching a compound known to be used by a Haqqani facilitator and his element believed to be responsible for financing and supplying weapons to other militants in the region.

The joint force also found several grenades and a cache of small arms ammunition. All items were destroyed on site.

In a third operation that marked one of the largest drug and weapons discoveries this year, a joint force found about 100 kilograms of heroin, 1,800 kilograms of opium, nearly 50 metric tons of opium seeds along with a morphine processing lab during a search in Kajaki district, Helmand province, Oct. 6.

The joint force killed multiple enemy fighters and detained several suspected militants.

The joint force, assisted by the Afghanistan Narcotics Interdiction Unit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, coordinated and conducted the search to disrupt Anti-Afghan forces and to set conditions for effective future security operations in central Helmand province.

The force also found a weapons cache that included: 35 RPGs, five hand grenades, one 82mm recoilless rifle, 600 links of 7.62mm ammunition, four sniper rifles, one RPG launcher, 15 blocks of C-4 explosives, two blocks of Semtex plastic explosives, 50 detonation cords, two landmines, one passive infrared initiator, 350 rounds of various ammunition and 35 tons of ammonium nitrate—a chemical used to make roadside bombs.

All drugs were destroyed on site, and weapons were either positioned for safe disposal or destroyed on location.

No Afghan civilians were harmed during these operations.

The first girls’ school in Kandigal Village celebrated an opening ceremony with elders from all over the river valley June 14, in Konar Province, Afghanistan.

The new $200,000, 400-seat Kandigal Girls School was funded by the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, also known as Task Force Rock.

Gov. Hajji Sayed Wahidi, Konar, and a number of other Konar provincial government officials were joined by Lt. Col. William Ostlund, Task Force Rock commander, and Navy Cmdr. Daniel W. Dwyer, Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team commander.

“Girls schools are the first priority for the government because unfortunately when Afghanistan was in the hands of the Taliban, the women were kept in the dark, and not allowed to come out of their homes for learning,” said Wahidi. “The women are in a very bad situation; therefore we believe now we need to do more for women, we should have some positive discrimination to increase activities for women.”

The Kandigal Girls School is a community success story, said Dwyer. The school was only possible through the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, the district and provincial government, the elders, and the Coalition forces working together.

“The community recognized and stated its number one priority for Kandigal Village was a girls school,” said Dwyer. “The government is addressing the needs of the people.”

Five schools are currently under construction in Konar province, and in the next several months the provincial government plans to build 15 more, according to Wahidi.

“We always try to make more facilities for girls in Konar province, we have 140,000 students going to school, and fortunately 40,000 are girls,” said Wahidi. “The number is still not bad, but I think if you provide the facilities, the number of girls and boys will be [50 percent of each].”

The Konar PRT, in conjunction with the ministry of education, will continue to fund the construction of new schools throughout the province, according to Dwyer.

“Konar province has 315 schools with only 115 buildings,” said Dwyer. “The Konar PRT will fund schools only along roads with already existing locations, whether it is a tarp, tent, or open air school.”

“A year ago Kandigal District had only two schools,” said Army Capt. Louis B. Frketic, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company. “The schools consisted of two teachers, and a collection of children sitting under trees in the village center.”

“Afghan’s believe when you send a child to school, the education process ‘“the tailm”’ is a cleansing process,” said Frketic. “Where you wash away all the bad things from the children’s minds, you wipe away the 30 years of fighting from their minds.”

According to Frketic, building schools is only part of a grander scheme. The coalition forces are also building roads, power stations, health clinics, pipe schemes, bridges, and wells, in support of the Afghan government.

U.S. Dept. of State representative Alison Blosser, spoke on behalf of the Konar PRT, and in their native language, Pashtu. She addressed the elders during the celebration ceremony about the importance of women’s education. It is a good step for the Afghans to be educating Konar’s future women doctors and provincial council members, she said.

“The Kandigal Girls School celebration was actually a fantastic event,” said Blosser. “The bulk of the time was the Afghanistan government officials speaking about the importance of community participation in government, and they really stole the show.”

According to Blosser, Kandigal Village is a strategic village because it sits between two decisive valleys, the Korengal Valley and the Pech Valley. Now that coalition forces have built strong relations with the elders by giving them something to develop their children, and develop their future.

“The significance of Kandigal Village is that it sits at the mouth of the Korengal Valley, and the Korengal Valley is the place in Konar province where probably our toughest fight has been for the last five years,” said Blosser. “One important thing about the Kandigal Girls School is over the past two years we’ve been trying to gain the trust and confidence of the Korengalis, and what we have been trying to do in Kandigal Village is demonstrate all the benefits development can bring.”

DVIDS
By Spc. Gregory J. Argentieri
173rd Airborne Brigade Public Affairs