US, Afghan forces raid al Qaeda training sites

The U.S. military announced Tuesday that U.S. and Afghan forces completed a major air and ground operation in southern Afghanistan earlier this week, dismantling al Qaeda operations and resulting in “numerous militants dead.” 

“This is one of the largest joint ground-assault operations we have ever conducted in Afghanistan,” said U.S. spokesman Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner in a statement. 

{mosads}“We struck a major al-Qaeda sanctuary in the center of the Taliban’s historic heartland. This significant operation is a testament to the professionalism and expertise of our Afghan partners and demonstrates the growing capability of the Afghan security forces.”

The operation began in the evening on Oct. 7 in the Shorabak district of Kandahar province, after months of intelligence gathering and planning. 

The operation involved more than 200 Afghan and U.S. troops, who navigated through difficult terrain and cleared a well-established training camp of one square mile and another site that was nearly 30 square miles, the statement said. 

U.S. air forces provided 63 precision airstrikes while Afghan forces engaged in battle on the ground against the al Qaeda networks at both sites. The statement did not say how many militants were killed. 

“The goal of the operation was to degrade the terrorist network in Afghanistan,” Shoffner said. 

Shoffner said the forces were able to seize a large amount of data and weapons, and, based on the digital media equipment collected at one site, it appears that it was the location of a large media cell. 

Also collected were: heavy weapons; bomb-making material and other valuable intelligence data including foreign passports; laptops and associated equipment; digital cameras and cards; documents; and mobile phones. 

Additionally, forces seized anti-aircraft weapons; rocket-propelled grenade systems with associated hardware and warheads; and machine guns, pistols, rifles and ammunition. 

Although the operation was completed Sunday, the announcement came Tuesday morning, a day after The New York Times published an article that said the Taliban is the strongest it has been since 2001. 

It was also announced Monday that two U.S. service members were killed after their aircraft crashed — the second fatal crash this month. Six U.S. troops and five civilians were killed when their C-130 cargo plane crashed near Jalalabad.  

And earlier this month, the Taliban seized the strategic northern Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz, and U.S. air forces accidentally bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital after Afghan forces battling the Taliban there requested help. 

The news of the operation also comes as the president is preparing to decide whether to leave a troop presence in Afghanistan after he leaves office in early 2017. 

The current schedule would drawdown the approximately 9,800 U.S. forces at several bases in Afghanistan to a presence of 1,000 based at the embassy in Kabul. 

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who has recommended leaving forces after the end of 2016, said the “enormous success of this operation validates our ongoing campaign.” 

“Working with, by, and through our Afghan partners, we’re building their capabilities while we fight our common enemies,” said Army Gen. John Campbell, commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. 

“That’s why our strategic partnership here is so important. We continue to protect our fellow Americans at home by fighting al-Qaeda here,” he said. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of our brave U.S. servicemen and women and their Afghan counterparts. It’s because of their extraordinary efforts that terrorists here haven’t been able to attack our homeland in over 14 years.”