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U.S. Forces Launch New Afghanistan Offensive
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It is in the remote, "tough terrain" bordering Pakistan
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KABUL,
November 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As Afghan
authorities have lost control of at least seven districts in troubled
southeast Zabul province, U.S. forces announced a fresh operation
against fighters in the war-ravaged country Monday, November 10.
Operation
"Mountain Resolve" began with an air assault in northeast
Afghanistan's Nuristan province on November 7, spokesman Colonel
Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base, 50 kilometers (31
miles) north of Kabul.
"The
purpose of Operation Mountain Resolve is to destroy and disrupt
anti-coalition forces and deny sanctuary to them," the spokesman
was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.
Troops
from the U.S. 10th Mountain Division, Special Operations Forces and
air forces were taking part in the operation in the remote and
"tough terrain" bordering northwest Pakistan's Chitral
district.
Davis
said the operation was launched "to meet objectives in the war
against terror," which were to "kill, capture or deny
sanctuary" to fighters against the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
"The
coalition undertakes such operations in support of the Islamic
Transitional Government of Afghanistan," the colonel said.
But
he refused to elaborate on why Mountain Resolve was launched.
Nuristan
intelligence official Syed Omar said that that U.S. troops had been
deployed at Want and Watapo in central Nuristan's Waigal valley, 170
kilometers northeast of Kabul.
The
operation came two days after a group of fighters fired rockets and
small-arms fire at U.S.-led troops in northeast Afghanistan. The U.S.
military made no mention of the casualties.
But
local inhabitants are seething with anger against the operations, as
civilians are sometimes caught in the crossfire.
Afghan
officials said eight people were killed in a U.S.-led air raid in
Waigal valley on October 30, but the U.S. military has denied any
knowledge of the incident.
A
U.S.-led force of some 12,500 troops is continuing to hunt Taliban and
al-Qaeda fighters, mainly in the south and southeast of Afghanistan.
Losing
Control
In
the meanwhile, Afghan authorities have lost control of at least seven
districts in troubled southeast Zabul province, the deputy governor
said Monday.
But
tribal chiefs and elders, rather than resurgent Taliban forces, were
in control of the areas, Mawlawy Mohammad Omar said.
"There
is no government control over Atghar, Naw Bahar, Shinkay and Shamazai
in the south of the province," deputy Zabul governor Omar told
AFP by satellite phone from the provincial capital Qalat.
"There
are some other districts such as Shahjoy, Daychopan and Khak-e-Afghan
where the government has no control but the Taliban do not control
these areas either".
He
said Taliban were fighters were moving around the districts on
motorbikes.
"But
they aren't powerful enough to threaten the administration," Omar
said.
Government
militiamen were unable to go to the seven districts due to a lack of
men and equipment, he said.
He
said government forces withdrew last month when US-led coalition
forces disarmed them due to "wrong information" from the
governor of southeast Ghazni province.
"Government
troops in Naw Bahar district left the area when Americans detained the
district chief and disarmed his men," Omar said.
He
said government forces could return to the districts if the coalition
returned their weapons.
Omar
had earlier told the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that
"Taliban or their supporters" were in the districts, and
that they were preparing to try and take Qalat.
A
powerful bomb went off Saturday at the headquarters of Zabul's
governor but no-one was hurt in the explosion or in another blast at
an arms depot.
The
province is deemed "high risk" by the United Nations, which
has banned its personnel from working there.
The
province is deemed "high risk" by the United Nations, which
has banned its personnel from working there.
U.N.
Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno
told the Security Council on October 24 that the Taliban had
established de facto control in "several border districts"
neighboring Pakistan, including Barmal and Gayan in Paktika province
and Maruf in Kandahar.
Two
years after the fall of the Taliban regime, some 12,500 U.S.-led
troops are still hunting remnants of the militia, their al-Qaeda
allies and loyalists of Hekmatyar.
Washington
earlier this year declared former prime minister Hekmatyar a wanted
terrorist for his attempts to overthrow the government of President
Hamid Karzai.
But
Hekmatyar issued a statement earlier in the day, charging the current
Afghan government did not have an independent sovereignty.
The
genuine sovereignty is at the hands of the American ambassador in the
country, Hekmatyar said in a statement carried by al-Jazeera.
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