NATO's Operation Medusa Pushing Taliban from Southern Khandahar
18 September 2006
Alliance paving the way for reconstruction, development, says British officer
Washington – A top NATO commander announced that the alliance’s two-week offensive to push Taliban remnants from southern Afghanistan and pave the way for reconstruction and development has proven to be a “significant success.”
British Lieutenant General David Richards, commander of NATO’s 20,000-strong, U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said September 17 in London that the effort, code-named Operation Medusa, had sent a message to enemy forces who might have doubted the alliance’s resolve as it assumed responsibility from U.S.-led coalition forces in the south on August 1.
U.S. Marine General James L. Jones, supreme commander of allied forces in Europe said in a September 17 news release that the operation proves that “NATO will not shirk from taking robust action where necessary and especially given the level of insurgent activity.” (See related article.)
Troops from Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the operation.
“Six nations fought side by side to inflict significant casualties on the entrenched insurgent forces, who could have avoided this sad loss of life by reconciling with the legitimate Afghan government,” provincial Governor Assadullah Khalid said September 17 in Khandahar.
Approximately 8,000 alliance troops joined Afghan security forces in the operation, which featured targeted ground and air assaults in Khandahar province’s southern districts of Panjwayi, Pashmul and Zhari. NATO reported 512 insurgents killed, 136 detained and an unknown number driven from the area.
As a result of the joint operation, Richards said insurgents “suffered significant casualties” and “had no choice but to leave.”
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT RECOVERY
Having created a secure environment in the area, Richards said, the alliance will help local leaders begin the long process of rebuilding their communities. (See related article.)
In the days and weeks ahead, he said, “you will see a great effort going into this area, both in short-term support and longer-term development.”
Thousands of area residents fled the region during the fighting, which caused significant damage to several communities. NATO combat engineers now are sweeping the area for land mines and other dangerous traps left behind by Taliban forces so families can return and start repairing their homes and farms. (See related article.)
An emergency response committee that includes representatives from the United Nations, NATO’s provincial reconstruction teams and the Afghan government currently is surveying the damage to roughly 18,000 households.
“We are clearing the area of bombs and landmines in order to facilitate the complete and safe return of the displaced families,” Khalid said, adding that he hoped the process would be completed before the holy month of Ramadan, which begins September 24.
This is the first step toward stabilization, he said. Short-term humanitarian aid deliveries for returning families will follow and gradually international advisers will help local leaders to define and implement long-term reconstruction and development plans.
“Just as the brave soldiers of ISAF and the Afghan National Army demonstrated their will to succeed, I do not doubt that the nations represented here will go the next step and deliver the tangible evidence of our intent to move forward to stabilization and reconstruction,” Jones said.
Although winter typically has brought with it a lull in insurgent activities, NATO officials caution that the militants continually are adapting their tactics, as seen in a pair of suicide attacks against Canadian forces in the area in mid-September.
But wherever the enemy surfaces in Khandahar province, Khalid pledged, “the Afghan National Army, the Afghan Nation Police and NATO forces will deal to them a crushing defeat.”
The full text of the press release on Operation Medusa is available from the NATO Web site.
For more information see Rebuilding Afghanistan.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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