Taliban seized in Afghan raids

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2009 (UPI) --

Operations by Afghan and international security forces in Wardak and Kandahar provinces seized high-ranking Taliban commanders without firing a shot.

The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (NATO occupation forces) said operations with Afghan security forces resulted in the capture of several Taliban commanders in villages associated with militant activity in Wardak province.

ISAF, without identifying the commander, said a Taliban leader captured in separate operations in Kandahar province "led a sizable militant element."

Wardak and Kandahar provinces in the central region of Afghanistan are considered regions where Taliban control is pervasive.

The international force stressed no shots were fired during the operations (which means that there was no fighting).

Military strategists said the rise in the influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan led some to conclude the mission there was close to failure. U.S. President Barack Obama in a Dec. 1 address to the nation ordered 30,000 troops to report to duty in Afghanistan in a renewed push to reverse that trend.

U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said American troops and civil-affairs experts began preparing for deployment to Afghanistan within 72 hours of the presidential speech.

Explosion leaves 4 Afghan cops dead

Arab News, Amir Shah | AP

December 17, 2009  

KABUL:

A roadside bomb killed four police in western Afghanistan and two soldiers died in separate Taliban attacks, the latest against the country’s struggling security forces, officials said Wednesday.

The attacks follow deadly Taliban ambushes on checkpoints in the north and south of the country on Monday that killed 16 national police — underscoring the threat faced by Afghan forces seen as pivotal to plans for an eventual withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan.

The roadside bomb hit a car carrying the police Tuesday night in Rubat-i-Sangin district, north of the city of Herat, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry. Noor Khan Nekzad, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the patrol vehicle was destroyed by the blast.

Also Tuesday, two Afghan army soldiers were killed in militant attacks in eastern Laghman province and southern Kandahar province, the Defense Ministry said. According to the ministry, militants have carried out 3,170 bombings or suicide attacks so far this year. Another 3,617 bombs were been defused before they were detonated.

President Barack Obama has ordered some 30,000 US reinforcements to try to reverse the tide against the Taleban, but has said troops could begin withdrawing from the country within 18 months if conditions are right.

NATO, meanwhile, reported success by Afghan and international forces in detaining Wednesday two Taleban commanders and another suspected militant near a village in the central province of Wardak.

In Kandahar, a joint force searched a compound in the Zhari district and detained a Taleban commander believed responsible for a number of roadside bomb attacks in the area. More militants were detained in Arghandab district.

No shots were fired and no one was injured in the operations, NATO said.