Afghan and coalition forces detained several insurgents and seized a large weapons cache in Afghanistan yesterday in operations focused on dismantling terrorist groups’ leadership, military officials said.

Afghan and International Security Assistance Force troops targeted two Taliban district commanders in charge of the Garm Ser and Nawah-ye Barakzai districts of Helmand province, and detained several suspected insurgents.

The first combined force targeted the Garm Ser district commander, who directs attacks against coalition forces, and provides weapons and supplies to Taliban fighters. The force searched a compound in Mohammad Rahim Kalay and, after questioning residents at the scene, detained several suspected insurgents.

A separate security force targeted a compound in the remote Marja district in pursuit of the Nawah-ye Barakzai district commander, who recently returned from Pakistan. As the assault force approached the compound, three men attempted to escape, but the security force was able to capture them peacefully. The force detained several suspected insurgents and found five pounds of wet opium at the scene.

In other operations yesterday in Afghanistan:

– A combined force detained two suspected insurgents while in pursuit of a Taliban member involved in weapons trafficking and planting roadside bombs. The force detained the men after searching compounds in the Pul-e Alam district and questioning residents at the scene.

– A combined force operating in the Ghazni district of Ghazni province located a cache of about 240 antitank rounds, 31 rocket-propelled grenade warheads, seven RPG rocket motors and two 107 mm rockets. The combined forced conducted a controlled explosion to destroy the cache.

– Insurgents’ bombs killed 12 Afghan civilians in two separate incidents in eastern provinces. In the first incident, three Afghan construction workers were killed and two were wounded when a bomb detonated in Ghazni’s Qarabaugh district. Later, nine construction workers were killed by a remote-controlled bomb while working in Kunar’s Bar Kunar district.

Also, a combined force killed four insurgents and destroyed narcotics and explosives during an Aug. 4 operation in Helmand’s Sangin district of Helmand province. The team was searching for a key Taliban leader of a homemade bomb factory when they encountered the insurgents. Women and children were protected throughout the operation. Drugs, explosives and weapons were discovered and destroyed at the scene.

Coalition and Afghan forces are making steady progress in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the commander of Regional Command Southwest said today.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard P. Mills stood up the new command in June. The area had been part of Regional Command—South. The general spoke to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from his base at Camp Leatherneck, located north of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

The general’s command is focused on the central Helmand River Valley.

“It’s key ground,” Mills said. “The bulk of the nearly 1.5 million residents of Helmand province live here. Progress here has been steady. I look forward to progress to continue to show improvement over the coming months, and I think we’ll expand rapidly in the months ahead.”

The NATO forces in the command work closely with Afghan security forces and are partnered in almost all operations, Mills said. He noted that the quality and quantity of the Afghan forces has increased.

“We work with all of the Afghan security forces and have been very, very pleased at the increase in their capability, increase in their manning level and the increase in the equipment with which they operate,” Mills said.

The price for the steady progress has been steep, the general said. The Helmand valley is key ground to the insurgency. The Taliban controlled the region six months ago and there were many areas where coalition or Afghan government forces had never been.

Since launching offensives at the beginning of the year, the Taliban have been consistently pushed back, Mills said, and is losing control over the poppy crops that fund their activities.

According to AFPS’ Jim Garamone, Mills cited the Marja campaign as an example of operations in Helmand. Marja reflects progress that’s been made throughout the province, the general said. Six months ago, “anyone not involved with the insurgency that approached Marja drew fire and drew very accurate fire,” he said.

The insurgents said they were going to die in the fight against the coalition, but instead they’ve drifted away, Mills said.

“We had initial success on the battlefield, he said.

And the government and the coalition have built on that initial success. “Today,… there is an emerging police force down [in Marja],” Mills said. “It has some 140 members. It patrols in the streets. It runs checkpoints for security measures and enforces not only the basic laws expected to operate within a town but it also fights the insurgency when it’s called upon and when it’s attacked.”

There are two battalions of U.S. Marines in the area, he noted, as well as elements of the Afghan National Police Force.

Meanwhile, the general said, schools for both boys and girls have opened and the bazaars are back in business.

Though the Taliban remain in the area, they’re being forced out, Mills said. “And they are becoming desperate,” he added. “We are beginning to see more and more of that desperation reflected in the weapons and the tactics they use against us within the city.”

The Taliban, he said, are sneaking into the area at night and planting roadside bombs, which are aimed at the population.

“The number of children, the number of women, the number of innocents that we treat in our medical facilities, as the result of IEDs within Marja, is unacceptable,” Mills said.

The Taliban’s murder and intimidation campaign shows desperation, the general said, noting the insurgents have “very little else to offer the people of Marja, other than threats.”

When the Taliban controlled Marja, Mills said, there were no schools, because the insurgents had destroyed them. The insurgents, he said, also had closed the health clinics and destroyed most of the buildings that made up the bazaars.
The Afghans are fed up with Taliban manipulation, murder and extortion, Mills said, noting the people of the region are chasing away Taliban tax collectors and recruiters.

“We have reports of Taliban recruiters, again, entering villages, not just Marja but throughout the province, and once again being rejected and told to disappear,” he said.

The people of the province want to defend themselves, Mills said, noting he fully supports the establishment of a local Afghan police force to help deter Taliban aggression. Afghan President Hamid Karzai approved the concept yesterday.

Meanwhile, the general said, Afghan officials have set up an anti-insurgent tip line for the region.

The tip line has become “more and more useful to us as concerned citizens call in, tell us of IEDs that have been planted, tell us of factories producing IEDs, and tell us of strangers who don’t belong in the local neighborhood who have come in and begun to cause trouble,” Mills said.

NATO and Afghan forces repelled an insurgent attack on an airfield June 29 outside of Jalalabad City in eastern Afghanistan.

An Afghan-international security force killed several insurgents, including Faizullah, a Taliban subcommander, as the insurgents were planting a roadside bomb near Kandahar City in Afghanistan yesterday.

Faizullah was responsible for previous roadside-bomb attacks in Kandahar province’s Arghandab district, officials said, and was believed to be responsible for the death of at least one coalition soldier in March.

The combined force verified no civilians were at risk before calling for a precision strike from coalition aircraft.

Following the air strike, the security force went to the site and was immediately engaged by insurgents staged in prepared defensive positions. The ground force returned fire, killing several insurgents. They also found and destroyed the roadside bomb and confirmed the deaths of the insurgents from the earlier precision air strike.

In Khost province last night, another combined security force captured a Haqqani terrorist network facilitator linked to multiple bombing attacks throughout the province. The assault force detained the facilitator without incident while searching a series of compounds in Khost’s Terazayi district.

Afghan and international forces have been involved in intense engagements with the Haqqani network along the Khost-Gardez pass over the past couple of weeks, officials said. Several insurgent commanders and a large number of insurgents have been killed during the operations. A large number of insurgents were killed when an Afghan-international patrol came under attack by an estimated 50 insurgents and called in a precision air strike in Badghis province’s Qadis district yesterday.

In other news from Afghanistan, Afghan forces working with International Security Assistance Force partners conducted an operation the night of June 23 east of Marja in Helmand province. Officials said the operation was designed to increase security to the Afghan population by disrupting a network known to supply explosives and other material used in making roadside bombs.

As the Afghan-led force approached a compound known to be housing insurgents, two armed men presented a direct threat and were killed. Afghan special police ensured all remaining residents left the compound safely. Several women and children were protected, and two men were taken into police custody.

No civilians were reported harmed in any of these operations, officials said.

Afghan and international forces in southern Afghanistan conducted several operations in and around Kandahar over the last two days, military officials reported.

A combined security force destroyed a major roadside-bomb factory, killed the Panjwai district Taliban commander and several other insurgents, and captured a number of other insurgents after an air strike in Kandahar province yesterday.

The deceased Taliban commander, Izzatullah, had planned and conducted attacks against coalition forces and was involved in the attack on Sarpoza prison outside of Kandahar City in June 2008, officials said.

After verifying insurgent activity, the combined force carefully planned the operation to avoid civilian casualties and mitigate collateral damage, and then called in a precision air strike, which destroyed the bomb-manufacturing site. Following the air strike, a combined security force quickly overwhelmed insurgent forces defending the area.

Post-strike assessment revealed large quantities of bomb-making materials, as well as multiple automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers with RPG rounds, and communications equipment.

The Zharay district governor confirmed the Taliban deaths and thanked the combined force for its efforts.

A separate Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents in Kandahar province yesterday. The suspected insurgents were travelling on a motorcycle in the Maiwand district when they were stopped for questioning and then detained. No shots were fired.

Another Afghan-international security force detained a suspected insurgent in Kandahar province last night. The security force detained the man while Afghan forces were clearing a series of compounds near Kandahar City. No shots were fired, and women and children present during the search were protected by the combined force.

Since the beginning of May, officials said, security forces have conducted numerous successful offensive operations in Kandahar province, capturing or killing numerous insurgents, including almost a dozen Taliban commanders.

“With our Afghan partners, [the International Security Assistance Force] will continue to expand its operations in and around Kandahar in order to create the space needed so the Afghan government can provide improved governance and essential services to the people of Kandahar,” said Marine Corps Col. William Maxwell, ISAF Joint Command’s operations center director.

In operations outside of Kandahar, an Afghan-international security force used precision air strikes to kill a number of insurgents in Kunduz province last night while pursuing a Taliban subcommander who played a crucial role in the ambush of a German convoy in Chahar Darah district last month. The strikes were conducted in an unpopulated area of Chahar Darah district, and coalition forces ensured there were no civilian casualties, officials said.

An Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents in Paktiya province last night during continuing operations aimed at dismantling a suicide-bombing ring blamed for several attacks. The terrorist ring is known to use vehicle-borne bombs and suicide bombers to target Afghan soldiers and police and international forces, officials said.

The combined security force detained the individuals while searching a series of compounds in the Gardez district. The security force also found a grenade and a weapon at the scene. No shots were fired, and women and children present during the search were protected by the combined security force.

An Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents in Zabul province last night while pursuing a Taliban cell leader and facilitator suspected of procuring roadside bombs, weapons and ammunition for the Taliban. The combined security force detained the suspected insurgents after Afghan forces cleared an area near a truck stop in the Shinkai district. No shots were fired.

Afghan and international security forces killed a large number of insurgents, including several key leaders for both the Haqqani terrorist network and the Taliban, in the Jani Khel district of Afghanistan’s Paktia province earlier this week, military officials reported today.

The security force killed Hamiddullah, a Haqqani network commander for the Sabari district in Khost province. Hamiddullah had direct ties to Haqqani senior leaders based in Pakistan and he reportedly was responsible for an ambush of an Afghan army unit in March that resulted in the deaths of three Afghan police officers.

According to intelligence information and local police, news of Hamiddullah’s death is expected to have significant disruptive effects on the insurgent network operating throughout Khost and Paktia, officials said.

Earlier this month, Afghan and international forces killed a number of Haqqani network fighters, including another Haqqani commander, Fazil Subhan, in Khost province.

In the recent two-day offensive operation on the largest insurgent camp in the area, assault forces also killed Qari Ismael, a Taliban leader for Jani Khel district, and Maulawi Sadiq, a known facilitator for foreign fighters.

After the fighting stopped, officials and village elders reported that a large number of foreign fighters, including Arabs, Uzbeks, Turks and Chechens, were among those killed. Afghan and coalition forces also found dozens of automatic weapons, multiple rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rounds, and communication equipment.

The Haqqani network is attempting to establish strongholds in the Khost-Gardez Pass in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Paktia and Khost provinces, officials said. Large numbers of foreign fighters remain interspersed in the ranks of the Taliban and Haqqani networks, and the area is used by insurgent groups to move supplies and foreign fighters into Afghanistan from Pakistan, they added.

No coalition forces were injured or killed despite engagement by heavily armed insurgents on four different occasions throughout the operation.

In an operation the night of June 21 in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghan security forces working with International Security Assistance Force partners found more than 11 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer banned by the Afghan government because it can be used in making explosives.

Authorized by Afghanistan’s interior ministry, Afghan special police surrounded a compound housing several insurgents. After ensuring all residents exited safely and arresting the insurgents, police found the ammonium nitrate.

Based on a current ISAF analysis, officials said, this discovery eliminated more than 500 potential roadside bombs.

In a separate action yesterday morning, a combined Afghan-international patrol conducted an operation in Kandahar province to disrupt a network known to sell illegal drugs to finance the Taliban insurgency. After surrounding the compound of interest, Afghan special police ensured all residents exited safely. A man was detained, and police seized more than 140 pounds of opium.

No civilians were injured in either operation.

In other news from Afghanistan:

– An Afghan-international security force detained several suspected insurgents while pursuing a Taliban commander in Zabul province last night. The security force found and destroyed automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade boosters and ammunition. No shots were fired, and no one was harmed during the operation.

– A separate Afghan-international security force operation detained several suspected insurgents and found 30 pounds of opium in Helmand province last night while searching for the newly appointed Taliban deputy shadow governor for Nawah-ya Barakzai district. No one was harmed, and the combined force protected a number of women and children during the operation.

– An Afghan-international security force detained the Taliban’s recently appointed chief of finance for Baghlan province, along with two other suspected insurgents, in Helmand the night of June 21. The Taliban finance chief also is a bomb-making expert and former district commander of at least three insurgent cells in Baghlan. No shots were fired, and the combined force protected the women and children present during the search. This operation continues a string of recent successes against Taliban networks in Baghlan, officials noted. In late May, combined forces removed three successively appointed Taliban provincial shadow governors for the province. Mullah Ruhullah was killed along with his deputy on May 14. His replacement, Maulawi Jabbar, was killed along with two Taliban commanders on May 28. Three days later, his replacement was detained by Afghan and coalition forces.

– Also on the night of June 21, combined forces acting on an Afghan civilian’s tip detained two foreign fighters in Kandahar province while pursuing the Dand district’s Taliban military commander, who is linked to suicide-bomb attacks in the province. No shots were fired, and the combined force protected women and children present during the search that led to the detention of two Pakistani men.

– On June 21, a combined security force detained several suspected insurgents in Helmand’s Nawa Barak district while pursuing a senior Taliban commander who operates in the area. The commander is a bomb-attack facilitator and Taliban fund raiser, officials said, and also is suspected of involvement in suicide-bomb attacks.

– Afghan and international partners conducted an operation in Helmand province the night of June 20 to disrupt a Taliban network that supplies explosives and other materials used in roadside bombs. When several insurgents failed to follow directions from Afghan special police and presented a deadly threat to the combined force, they were killed. Police ensured the remaining residents left the compound safely. Women and children were protected, and two men were taken into custody. No civilians were injured.

– An Afghan-international patrol confiscated more than a ton and a half of unprocessed opium and more than 20 pounds of heroin during a vehicle search June 21 in Helmand’s Garm Ser district. Two individuals were captured and detained when they fled from the vehicle.

Afghan and coalition forces struck a blow against insurgent operations in Helmand province over the weekend in one of several recent operations around Afghanistan, military officials reported.

Afghan forces working with International Security Assistance Force partners conducted an operation the night of June 19 south of Nad-e Ali to degrade insurgents’ ability to coordinate attacks and move of weapons and bomb-making materials around the area, officials said.

After surrounding a compound housing a Taliban insurgent and his accomplices, Afghan special police ensured all residents of the compound exited safely. Several women and children were protected while several men were detained, along with an assault weapon and an undisclosed amount of opium. Two of the detained men were positively identified as Taliban commanders who planned and conducted numerous attacks in Nad-e Ali, and supplied weapons into the area.

In a separate operation the same night, an Afghan-international security force detained a number of suspected insurgents in Kandahar province while pursuing the Taliban commander responsible for insurgent activity in the western part of the province. The security force detained the men and found a 45-pound bag of wet opium while searching a compound in the province’s Panjwai district.

No shots were fired, and women and children present during the search were protected by the combined security force, officials said.

Also that night, a separate Afghan-international security force detained several suspected insurgents while pursuing a Haqqani terrorist network commander in Khost province’s Sabari district. The security force also found and destroyed several homemade bombs during the operation. Women and children present were protected by the combined force throughout the search, and no damage was done to the compounds.

In Logar province’s Baraki Barak district that night, another Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents while pursuing a Taliban subcommander linked to bombing and rocket attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. No shots were fired, and women and children present during the search were protected by the combined force.

On June 19, Afghan and international forces conducted operations against the Haqqani network along the border of Khost and Paktia provinces overnight and throughout the day. Precision air strikes were used in self-defense against a large number of armed insurgents, officials said.

“We are aware of conflicting reports of civilian casualties made by local officials,” ISAF officials said in a written statement, “and are therefore reviewing the operational details of the engagement. Our mission is to protect the population, and we will accept full responsibility if civilians were unintentionally harmed in this intense fight against insurgents.”

Over that same night, an Afghan-international security force killed a Taliban subcommander along with a number of insurgents in Kunduz province’s Chahar Darah district. Mullah Abdul Razaq was responsible for moving suicide operatives throughout the eastern part of the province, officials said, and was the Taliban military commander in Talaqwa Village. Afghan police confirmed Razaq’s death.

Multiple intelligence reports named Razaq as a suspect in a roadside-bomb attack that killed two American soldiers June 16.

The security force searched a compound in the Chahar Darah district, where they were fired upon by individuals armed with automatic weapons and grenades. The combined force returned fire and secured the compound.

During the search, a civilian man came out of his home and told Afghan and coalition forces that the Taliban use the road near the compound daily and that the insurgents frequently stay in the mosque behind his home. The Taliban continue to use mosques as safe havens and weapons storage sites, knowing that international forces are not allowed to enter, officials said.

A significant cache of automatic weapons, magazines full of ammunition, grenades and an RPG launcher with rounds were found at the compound. Women and children present were protected by the combined force during the search.

A separate Afghan-international security force captured a Taliban commander and several suspected insurgents in Zabul province that night. The commander is linked to roadside-bomb attacks along the road connecting Zabul to the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The security force searched a series of compounds in a remote area of Shah Joy district after receiving intelligence reports on the Taliban commander’s whereabouts. No shots were fired during the search, and women and children present were protected by the combined force.

In a June 18 operation, a combined Afghan-international security force killed a suspected insurgent, detained several other suspected insurgents and found bomb-making materials while pursuing a senior Taliban commander in Helmand province. As the security force approached a compound in the Lashkar Gah district, they immediately received fire from an individual outside the compound. The combined force returned fire, killing him.

After securing the compound, the assault force found seven containers of homemade explosives, multiple initiators and bomb-making materials, which they destroyed.

A separate Afghan-international security force detained several suspected insurgents the night of June 18 while pursuing a Taliban shadow governor responsible for attacks against coalition forces in Logar province.

The security force searched a series of compounds south of Karizeh Zafaran after intelligence sources confirmed insurgent activity. During the search, the combined force found a more than 50 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used in the manufacture of explosives and is banned by the Afghan government.

While preparing to depart the area, the force killed a man who fired on them. Women and children present were protected by the combined force, and no buildings were damaged.

On June 17, Afghan army commandos, assisted by U.S. special operations forces, killed a number of insurgents in Badghis province while searching for an insurgent commander.

The Afghan-led force was in the Morghab district when they were attacked by insurgents using heavy small-arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from fortified positions. The combined force returned fire and called in a precision air strike, killing many of the insurgents. There were no civilian casualties and no reports of civilian property damage, officials said.