Yes, it's been quite a day! First off, NATO and Afghan forces tracked down a Taliban "shadow" Governor in northern Afghanistan and had a precision airstrike called in on him and poof, he's dead and then later today, a U.S. predator drone hit North Waziristan and killed 4 Haqqani Network Taliban. Not a bad day, at all.
Here's two excerpts from each of the stories from The Long War Journal....NATO strike first:
And here's an excerpt from the second story regarding the North Waziristan UAV strike:
The fact also that we did this in the north is excellent - the Taliban have had pretty much free reign up there for quite awhile.
Here's two excerpts from each of the stories from The Long War Journal....NATO strike first:
Coalition special operations forces killed the Taliban's shadow governor for the northwestern province of Faryab yesterday.
Qari Ziauddin, the shadow governor for Faryab province, was killed in a "precision airstrike" on Oct. 5 after Coalition forces tracked him "to a remote area of Dowlatabad district," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release.
A joint Coalition and Afghan assault force followed up the strike, and killed four Taliban fighters in a firefight. The team was able to confirm that Ziauddin had been killed in the airstrike.
The joint forces also discovered a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and IED materials while searching a series of nearby caves. The weapons and ammunition caches were destroyed.
And here's an excerpt from the second story regarding the North Waziristan UAV strike:
US Predators struck again in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, killing four "militants."Although I'm happy that we continue the predator drone activity in North Waziristan, I'm ecstatic about the airstrike in northern Afghanistan due to the fact that the skies over Afghanistan have been way too silent for far too long. And the fact that we took out one of these shadow Governors makes it even better - these are the facilitators with the hardcore Taliban - these are the liars, the two-faced ones who pretend to be regular Afghan.
Unmanned US Predator strike aircraft, or the more deadly Reapers, fired two missiles today at a compound in the village of Sirai Darpay Khel near the Miramshah bazaar in North Waziristan. Miramshah is the largest town in North Waziristan. Pakistani intelligence officials said that four "militants" were killed, according to The Nation.
Miramshah is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, an al Qaeda-linked Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.
Today's strike takes place as the US is seeking to disrupt an al Qaeda plot modeled after the Mumbai terror assault and thought to be targeting several major European cities. The plot is said to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden. The US has issued a travel warning to its citizens in Europe, while Britain and Norway have raised their terror alerts.
The US has been pounding targets in the Data Khel, Miramshah, and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan in an effort to disrupt the European plot.
The fact also that we did this in the north is excellent - the Taliban have had pretty much free reign up there for quite awhile.
Coalition airstrike kills Taliban shadow governor in Afghan north
Coalition special operations forces killed the Taliban's shadow governor for the northwestern province of Faryab yesterday.
Qari Ziauddin, the shadow governor for Faryab province, was killed in a "precision airstrike" on Oct. 5 after Coalition forces tracked him "to a remote area of Dowlatabad district," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release.
A joint Coalition and Afghan assault force followed up the strike, and killed four Taliban fighters in a firefight. The team was able to confirm that Ziauddin had been killed in the airstrike.
The joint forces also discovered a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and IED materials while searching a series of nearby caves. The weapons and ammunition caches were destroyed.
Ziauddin, like many other Taliban leaders throughout Afghanistan, took his marching orders from the Taliban's leadership councils based across the border in Pakistan. He "was directly associated with and took direct operational orders from a Pakistan-based leader of the northern front," ISAF stated.
The Taliban in the north receive orders from the the Peshawar Shura, one of the Taliban's four major regional commands for Afghanistan. All four of the Afghan Taliban's regional shuras are named after and based in Pakistani cities in Khyber-Paktunkwa or Baluchistan.
The Peshawar Shura is based out of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, which is the provincial capital of Khyber-Paktunkwa. The Peshawar Shura is thought to be led by Taliban commander Abdul Latif Mansur, who replaced Maulvi Abdul Kabir, who is said to have been detained by Pakistan's intelligence service.
The Taliban establish shadow or parallel governments in the regions they control or where the Afghan government is weak. These shadow governments fill the void by dispensing sharia justice; mediating tribal and land disputes; collecting taxes; and recruiting, arming, and training fighters.
The Taliban have established shadow governments throughout Afghanistan, with provincial and militarily leaders appointed to command activities. In January 2009, the Taliban claimed to be in control of more than 70 percent of Afghanistan's rural areas and to have established shadow governments in 31 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
Coalition and Afghan forces have targeted the Taliban's shadow government in the north hard this past year, with several commanders killed or captured [see LWJ report, Coalition continues pursuit of IMU commanders in the Afghan north, for more information]. Just yesterday, a wanted district shadow governor in Kunduz province was captured during a raid in neighboring Takhar province.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has integrated its operations with the Taliban in the Afghan north, and some of its leaders also fill top-level positions in the shadow governments. Within the past six weeks, Coalition and Afghan forces have killed several IMU commanders and more than a dozen IMU fighters in the northern province of Takhar. [See LWJ report, IMU-linked Taliban district commander killed in Takhar raid.]
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