Yesterday, U.S. airstrikes in the Khost area of Afghanistan killed more than a dozen Taliban fighters of the Haqqani network - the Haqqani network is one of the most organized and lethal of the Taliban forces in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. There has been a concerted effort by the U.S. to go after the Haqqani network and its two leaders, Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, with operations against them in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. From the article at The Long War Journal, here's a recap of what that targeting has entailed:
US and Afghan forces have stepped up attacks against the Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan over the past several days. More than a dozen fighters have been killed and 21 more were captured, including a commander, during airstrikes and raids since June 27.
The US military reported that "more than a dozen militants" were killed during a series of airstrikes against "a pair of command bunkers" in a mountainous region in Khost province near the border of Pakistan.
Targeting the Haqqani Network
The US military has heavily targeted the Haqqani Network over the past month. Led by the respected mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, the network is well-organized in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqani Network has been behind some of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan.
Over the past month, the US military has targeted Siraj and also Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a senior deputy, several times in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On May 28, US and Afghan forces assaulted a heavily defended fort in the mountains in the Wor Mamay district in the eastern province of Paktika near the Pakistani border. Twenty-nine Haqqani Network fighters, including six failed suicide bombers, were killed during the raid. Sangeen, who was the target of the raid, escaped.
Siraj and Sangeen were also the targets of two recent US airstrikes inside Pakistan. In mid-June, the US conducted several strikes in South Waziristan. The strikes occurred after the US received information that Siraj was attending a high-level al Qaeda and Taliban meeting to advise a Pakistani Taliban leader on his options against the Pakistani military .
Sangeen was also one of several senior Taliban leaders, including Baitullah and his deputy Qari Hussain Mehsud, targeted in an airstrike at the funeral of a mid-level Taliban commander in South Waziristan.
The US military has identified the Haqqani Network as one of the most dangerous outfits in Afghanistan. .
Just as the US has finally admitted that Taliban leader Mullah Omar and his senior commanders are running their Afghan operations from Quetta in Pakistan, the Haqqanis have been labeled as operating from Pakistan's tribal areas.
"The Haqqani network remains one of the most lethal Taliban organizations operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas," the US military admitted in its latest press release.
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