Coalition, Afghan Forces Kill Six, Detain 14 in Afghanistan Operations

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2009 – Coalition and Afghan forces have killed six enemy fighters and detained 14 others in operations in Afghanistan in recent days, military officials reported.

This morning, combined forces detained three suspects during an operation to disrupt a bomb-making network in eastern Afghanistan.

In the Sabari district of Khowst province, about 70 miles southeast of Kabul, Afghan and coalition forces searched a compound where the three suspects were detained without incident.

One rifle, two chest racks and ammunition were found and removed from the compound. Six women and 10 children were protected and there was no collateral damage to the property.

In other operations:

— Yesterday, Afghan and coalition forces killed five militants and detained four others in northern Afghanistan’s Kondoz province during an operation targeting a terrorist network there.

In coordination with local Afghan police, the combined forces conducted an assault of a compound near the Tajikistan border. During the initial assault, forces encountered enemy combatants in the courtyard, and killed one and detained another. When they called out for non-combatants to exit the buildings, they were engaged with small arms fire. Forces returned fire and cleared the buildings, resulting in four militants killed and three detained.

Forces found multiple AK-47 assault rifles and chest racks on the compound and removed them.

No women or children were present in the targeted attacks.

— On March 21, Afghan and coalition forces killed an insurgent and captured four others in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province in an operation to disrupt terrorist networks operating near the Pakistan border.

The combined force approached a compound in the Dzadran district, about 80 miles south of Kabul, to capture a leader in a foreign fighter network that supplies the Islamic Jihad Union and Haqqani terrorist groups. As the force patrolled the compound, a suspected insurgent was seen fleeing on foot and the force pursued him. He maneuvered to higher ground, gaining a tactical advantage, and the assault force engaged him with small arms fire, killing him.

During a subsequent search of the compound, forces detained four suspects without further incident. Forces then conducted a search of a nearby compound without incident.

Eighteen women and 29 children were protected.

— On March 20, Afghan National Police, minimally assisted by coalition forces, conducted an early morning search of a compound suspected of housing insurgents in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.

ANP conducted the search after receiving information from local villagers that the compound belonged to a man suspected of conducting insurgent activities in the area. Three suspects were detained and taken into custody during the search.

The ANP encountered no resistance and no shots were fired. All women and children present were safeguarded.

(Compiled from U.S. Forces Afghanistan news releases).

Reagan 1964 Speech

True Today.

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Suspected Pirates Apprehended in the Gulf of Aden.

From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet Public Affairs

The crew of the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) apprehended seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden Feb. 11 after responding to a distress call from a nearby merchant vessel.

The event marks the first time CTF-151 has apprehended suspected pirates.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, the Marshall Islands-flagged Motor Vessel Polaris sent a distress call to all ships in the area reporting that a small skiff containing seven suspected pirates had attempted a forcible boarding of their vessel using a ladder. Polaris crewmembers removed the ladder before pirates could come aboard.

Suspected Pirates Apprehended in the Gulf of Aden.Full Story

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Vella Gulf closed immediately with the M/V Polaris and intercepted a skiff matching the description given by the motor vessel. The skiff contained individuals fitting the physical descriptions given by Polaris crew members. A Vella Gulf visit, board, search and seizure team conducted a consensual boarding and found several weapons.

Counter Piracy Training

News from the war on terrorism.

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Our forces in action in the war on terror.

Freedom Watch Afghanistan

News from the war on terrorism.

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Freedom Watch Afghanistan

News from the war on terrorism.

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Riverine Warfare

Navy Riverine Warefare.

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This film documents the actions of the United States Navy’s Brown Water Forces. It shows some of the advanced water craft vital to patrol and interdiction. The full length, three part documentary is available on my YouTube channel. Just search “ldbkbarnea” channel.

The War On Terroism

The current situation in the war on terror and the war in Iraq.

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This edition features stories on the International Zone change of command, policing up Iraq, close air support class for troops, peace in Bamiyan province, mortars protecting isolated Afghan outpost, explosive area clearance, saving lives in Central America, Chutu bridge opening, USO providing mobile gaming and the latest military heroes.

Judge Dismisses Charges Against USS Cole Suspect

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2009 – Charges against an accused terrorist being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were dismissed yesterday by the judge who oversees the military commissions system, Defense Department officials said.

Susan J. Crawford, the convening authority for military commissions at Guantanamo, yesterday dismissed the government’s charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in accordance with President Barack Obama’s order to temporarily halt activities there, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told the Pentagon Channel today.

However, Nashiri isn’t going anywhere, Morrell pointed out. The suspected al-Qaida operative, he said, will remain confined at Guantanamo and could have charges brought against him in the future.

Nashiri “will remain in custody, charges can be brought against him again if the administration would choose to do so in the future, and we are fully in compliance with the executive order the president signed a couple of days after his inauguration, halting all military commissions activities” at Guantanamo, Morrell said.

The White House has tasked the Pentagon to review detention operations at Guantanamo to ascertain whether or not detainees are humanely treated according to the Geneva Conventions.

Obama is scheduled to meet with victims of the USS Cole bombing and the 9/11 attacks at the White House today.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates this week directed Navy Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of Naval Operations, to lead the Pentagon’s assessment of Guantanamo’s detainee operations. Walsh is at Guantanamo now and his review is to be completed within 30 days.

Nashiri is the alleged planner of the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole when it was berthed in Aden, Yemen. Seventeen U.S. sailors died and 39 were injured in the attack.

Some family members and friends of servicemembers killed or injured in the USS Cole attack have voiced concerns that Nashiri could escape justice if the detention center is closed within a year, as is stipulated by Obama’s Jan. 22 executive order.

“We all feel for them,” Morrell said of the grieving families and friends. “The last thing anyone wants to do is victimize these people twice.”

The bottom line, Morrell said, is that Nashiri remains in U.S. custody.

“He is confined and will be until some determination is made by a court or some legal authority in the future,” Morrell said. “The only thing that has happened now is that his legal case will not proceed while this review is under way into the whole military commissions process.”

A military judge at Guantanamo on July 29 ordered that legal proceedings against Nashiri continue. The judge scheduled Nashiri to be arraigned Feb. 9. The judge’s order contradicted Obama’s Jan. 20 directive to Gates to cease referring any new cases through the military commissions process at Guantanamo Bay and to request 120-day continuances on all active cases there. Two days later, the president issued three executive orders, one of which directs the closure of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay within the year.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon yesterday said that Crawford’s decision regarding Nashiri “reflects the fact that the president has issued an executive order which mandates that the military commissions be halted, pending the outcome of several comprehensive reviews of our detention operations at Guantanamo.”

On the Ground:

Coalition, Afghan Troops Give Fuel, Food, Collect Munitions
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2009 – Coalition troops in Afghanistan recently teamed up with Afghan soldiers to provide food, clothing and fuel to Afghan villagers and to collect munitions in a rewards program, military officials said.

Coalition special operations and Afghan national security forces distributed humanitarian assistance to more than 400 villagers in the Deh Rawood district of Oruzgan province Jan. 30.

The combined forces distributed 200 bags of coal, 125 hygiene kits, 100 bags of rice and beans, 100 pairs of children’s shoes and socks, 80 boxes of tea, 60 men’s jackets, 40 children’s jackets and 35 pairs of men’s shoes to aid villagers and their families.

A small medical clinic also was established to provide medical treatment for villagers.

“The Afghan people saw firsthand today that the [Afghan] and coalition forces truly do all they can to help make Afghan lives a little easier,” a coalition spokesman said. “We will continue to aid Afghans in their efforts to improve their quality of life and to rebuild their nation.”

In other news, residents of the Shindand district of western Afghanistan’s Heart province took advantage of the coalition’s Small Rewards Program by turning in two large caches of munitions to coalition and Afghan forces Jan. 28 and 29.

Villagers turned in more than 300 pieces of munitions they had removed from a large cache on Jan. 28, including rocket-propelled grenade rounds, artillery shells and nearly 200 hand grenades.

The next day, villagers delivered nearly 100 artillery shells from a different cache.

The program compensates Afghans for their efforts to rid Afghanistan of weapons used by insurgents and foreign fighters.

“These citizens have taken an active role in improving the security and stability within their villages by facilitating the recovery of munitions caches,” Army Lt. Col. Fred Helmer, a U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesman, said. “This is a clear message that Afghans are committed to thwarting insurgent activity in this country.”