‘Commandos the most feared in Afghanistan today’

KABUL (Pajhwok): "The enemy is scared because of the (Afghan) Commandos’ fury,” President Ghani said during a recent visit to the force training facility in Kabul. “It is because of you we are winning the war."

The third commando course, now beginning at the special forces training facility Camp Commando, will take the number of new commandos trained in the last year to 2,500 – with another 1,500 coming through courses by the spring, NATO Resolute Support mission said in a statement on Monday.

“They will join special forces that are rapidly gaining a reputation inside and outside Afghanistan,” the statement said.

It quoted General John Nicholson, who commands US Forces-Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, as saying: “They (Afghan commandos) are the most feared and respected force in Afghanistan today, and they’re the best special operations force in the region.”

Commandos will begin to train on Cobra Strike vehicles, adding a new offensive capability for special forces who have never been defeated in engagements with the Taliban.

The new troops and vehicles will join an army that has stayed on the offensive throughout the winter – until now a time when the enemy would regroup and re-equip.

No respite for the Taliban in Helmand in the south

In the Taliban heartland Helmand, a series of operations codenamed ‘Maiwand’ have put pressure on the Taliban throughout the winter months. With Maiwand-11 now under way, Afghan commanders expressed confidence that they are succeeding in providing more security for the population.

For them, the Taliban’s recent campaign of bomb attacks against civilians shows weakness. “They commit suicide because they can’t fight anymore,” according to Major Taj Mohammad Begharaz, the tactical operations center chief for the Afghan 215th Corps, whose area includes Helmand.

He said, “The enemy is powerless against us; they can’t fight us face-to-face anymore. They just bury IEDs and commit suicide. They are very limited in their capabilities.”

During operations in Helmand, the ANDSF stopped two suicide bombers before they managed to carry out deadly attacks using car bombs.

Afghan and US forces also worked together to target and kill three of the four top Taliban leaders in Helmand, continuing a campaign of pressure on the insurgents and their support networks in places where they previously had enjoyed relative safety.

Under new authorities, US forces can now hunt down Taliban targets from the air, instead of acting only in self-defense as before. Air strikes on Taliban drug labs will continue in 2018 to attack the Taliban’s main revenue stream.

 “The Taliban has turned into an organization that profits from the drug trade,” said General Nicholson in November, 2017.

On January 25, Commandos from the 3rd and 9th Special Operations Kandaks led a team of Afghan Special Security Forces on a night time raid, capturing Taliban weapons and nearly a half-million dollars in narcotics in Kajaki district, Helmand province.

The seized drugs included 124 kg of raw opium, 85 kg of heroin, 7 kg of black tar heroin, and 28 kg of morphine base valued at $471,480.

 “We are with Afghanistan and we will stay with the Afghan people. We have a great partnership with the Afghan security forces and the Afghan government. Their forces have the momentum,” said General Nicholson.

The Taliban have continued to fail to put pressure on the capital of Kunduz province in the northeast of the country, the mission said.

In persistent, combined offensive operations, Afghan Commandos supporting the 209th Corps’ 20th Division defeated the Taliban in engagements north of Kunduz city during recent fighting January 15-20.

As well as inflicting heavy casualties on the Taliban, Afghan troops destroyed 39 emplaced IEDs and nearly 250 kg of homemade explosives; and seized four IED caches and more than 40 anti-vehicle mines.

This is the second significant combined operation in the past two months conducted by the 10th Special Operations Kandak and the 20th Division in Kunduz province – all part of a campaign that has led to success in denying the Taliban their stated objectives for 2017, which focused on the capture of provincial district centers.

 “We can no longer wait for peace to come to us,” said President Ghani at a press conference January 29. “We must win it through collective national resolve.”

pr/ma