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Defense Department Report, July 11: Afghan, Iraq Updates

11 July 2005

Afghan police collecting increasing numbers of serviceable weapons

WEAPONS BEING TURNED IN VOLUNTARILY IN AFGHANISTAN

The deputy commander of the coalition’s regional command on Afghanistan’s eastern border says a steady flow of weapons and ammunition has been turned in to the Afghan National Police.

“These are clear signals that democracy and security are taking hold in Afghanistan,” says U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Mike Fenzel, because former warlords and insurgents as well as other armed citizens who now want to be considered as candidates in the upcoming September National Assembly elections know they must first rid themselves of arms.

On July 11 the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that Afghan police officers had turned in to U.S. forces more than 1,000 rockets and other munitions collected recently in and around the Ghazni region.

“We’ve watched a steady flow of weapons and ammunition being turned in and collected by the Afghan National Police around our area of operations,” Fenzel said, “all as part of the democratic process.”

Afghan officers are pleased because most of the weapons they have collected are still serviceable, including 75 rocket-propelled grenades, four anti-tank mines, 400 mortars and hundreds of machine gun and recoilless rifle rounds.

On July 9 coalition forces released 76 detainees to the custody of the Afghan government under the terms of the “Strengthening Peace” program.  These individuals will be registered in Kabul and allowed to return home under the supervision of tribal elders.

Meanwhile Army Brigadier General Jack Sterling, deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, says that about 700 U.S. troops are being sent to Afghanistan in advance of the Afghan National Assembly and Provincial Council elections.

Sterling said the U.S. airborne infantry troops from the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are meant to supplement existing Afghan and coalition forces there so that democracy has the opportunity to flourish.  The goal, he said, is to establish a security environment that will promote participation in the September 18 elections.  The troops will depart for Afghanistan in about two weeks but are not being assigned permanently there.

IRAQI-.U.S. “OPERATION SCIMITAR” CONTINUES TO PRODUCE RESULTS

Iraqi security and coalition forces continued to produce results as part of “Operation Scimitar” in the Zaidon region, CENTCOM reported July 10.

The operation to disrupt insurgent efforts to intimidate Iraqi civilians has taken suspected terrorists and weapons off the streets.

Six hundred Iraqi and coalition forces are conducting counterterrorist operations southeast of the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Their efforts have removed roadside bombs, eliminated bomb-making equipment and unearthed weapons caches that have included mines, rockets and assault rifles.

In a separate operation in Kifri, Iraqi and coalition forces have taken 20 250-pound bombs out of circulation.

Weapons caches have also been uncovered in the former Saddam Hussein stronghold of Tikrit.

CENTCOM, meanwhile, announced the release July 10 of Iranian-born American citizen Cyrus Kar.

Kar was taken into custody May 17 while in Iraq to film a documentary about the Persian historical figure, Cyrus the Great.

FBI agents interviewed and polygraphed Kar, who had served in the U.S. Navy for three years, and found him innocent of any wrongdoing.

Evidence against the filmmaker, reviewed subsequently by the U.S. military, was not substantiated and he was released from custody.  His cameraman was also released.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)