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.

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.

General Stanley McChrystal says coalition forces are working to stop Iran from providing material to the Taliban.

Afghan and coalition forces killed a senior Taliban operative, detained numerous suspected insurgents and seized weapons and drugs in recent operations, military officials in Kabul reported.

In the Chak-e Wardak district of Wardak province today, Afghan and international forces captured a suspected Taliban subcommander allegedly responsible for conducting reconnaissance and planning attacks against coalition forces. Two other insurgents also were detained.

In other recent operations:

– An International Security Assistance Force patrol stopped a vehicle yesterday that was driving erratically in the Kandahar district of Kandahar province. When questioned, the driver gave evasive answers, so the patrol searched the vehicle and discovered 140 pounds of hashish. The drugs were turned over to the Afghan National Police.

– Afghan forces with ISAF partners killed Muhammad Yah, a senior Taliban commander in the Lashkar Gar district of Helmand province March 12. He was known to have planned and facilitated roadside-bomb attacks and to have directed suicide-bomb attacks in the area. While he primarily targeted Afghan forces and international partners, officials said, his attacks often killed or injured innocent Afghan civilians.

– A combined Afghan-international force captured a Taliban bomb-attack facilitator yesterday in Logar province. The facilitator is believed to be responsible for placing roadside bombs throughout the province’s Muhammad Aghah district.

– A combined force captured a Taliban subcommander and another militant in Kandahar’s Zharay district March 13. The combined force found bomb-making materials, including a rocket-propelled grenade, an artillery round, empty mortar cans, and rocket and mortar charts. The subcommander has been responsible for acquiring explosives and bomb-making materials and moving militant fighters to various safe houses, officials said.

– An Afghan-international force captured a Haqqani terrorist network commander and two other militants March 13 in Khost province’s Jaji Mayden district. He is believed to be responsible for directing attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. The search team found a shotgun, an automatic rifle, a grenade, some armor-piercing rounds, time fuses, blasting caps and a small amount of dynamite. Two other suspected militants also were detained.

– In the Zurmat district of Paktika province March 13, a combined force detained two suspected militants while pursuing a Taliban commander.

– Combined patrols found 11 rocket-propelled grenade warheads, 75 pounds of homemade explosives and bomb-making materials in Helmand’s Nad Ali district March.

– In Helmand’s Nawah-ye-Barakzai district March 13, a combined patrol detained two men after discovering 20 pounds of opium.

– An Afghan-international security force pursuing an al-Qaida commander in a rural area of the Asmar district of Kunar province March 13 killed six militants, all of whom apparently were foreign fighters, officials said. The militants fired on the combined force after the unit had called out for the occupants of a compound to surrender peacefully. A search of the compound revealed several automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and a land mine. A woman reportedly was killed in the cross-fire, and a joint investigation is under way.

– On March 12, Afghan forces killed eight militants and captured a foreign fighter facilitator in the Gulistam district of Farah province. Three of the eight militants killed were identified as foreign fighters. The combined force came under fire upon arriving at the compound targeted by the operation and returned fire, clearing the enemy from the compound. A militant who was wounded was found to be responsible for moving and equipping foreign fighters coming into Afghanistan. A search yielded rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and hand grenades.

– On March 12, a combined security force in the Khost district captured a Haqqani subcommander responsible for buying bomb components and giving them to cell members, recruiting and training militants and conducting attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. Two other insurgents also were detained. The team recovered rifles, a blasting cap and a large amount of cash.

– Also on March 12, a combined force in Kandahar’s Arghandab district captured a Taliban leader responsible for planning attacks against coalition forces. Two other suspected militants also were detained.

– A combined patrol found three weapons caches within 100 yards of each other in the Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province March 12. The caches contained three rocket-propelled grenades, a mortar round, two grenades, more than 20 yards of detonation cord and 350 rounds of small-arms ammunition.

– Afghan soldiers operating with ISAF forces in the Garm sir district of Helmand province discovered a significant cache of weapons and drugs March 12. The force found a Pakistani passport, a spool of command wire used for roadside bombs, 38 batteries, three loaded assault-rifle magazines, 27 shotgun shells, a pellet gun, a shotgun, an assault rifle, several rounds of ammunition, and about 400 pounds of opium.

GEN Stanley McChrystal, U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, says U.S. and coalition forces are working to increase the Afghan population’s confidence in its own government.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy says coalition forces need to prepare for the possibility of setbacks during Operation Moshtarak.

Training and advising security forces in partner nations needs to become a priority for the NATO alliance.

Secretary of the Army John McHugh testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the Defense Authorization Request for FY2011.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.