A new battalion of Afghan National Army commandos completed its first operation on Friday, capturing a well-known Taliban facilitator and two suspected Taliban extremists, according to a Pentagon announcement. Working with a contingent of Afghan national police advised by coalition forces, the commandos led a two-day mission 30 miles southwest of Jalalabad in the Sherzad district of Nangahar province. During the mission, the commandos captured and detained Haji Shir Khan, a known improvised explosive device (IED) maker, who is responsible for numerous IED attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in the province. The assault force also found two weapons caches that contained 18 rocket-propelled-grenade rounds, an anti-tank mine, 10 hand grenades, a 12-gauge shotgun, eight fully-loaded AK-47 magazines, and more than 80 kilograms of opium. “The commandos represent a bright future for the Afghan national security forces, and it’s no surprise after all of their training that they were successful in today’s mission,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman.
In separate actions the same day, in Ghazni province, Afghan and coalition forces killed several suspected militants and detained another. Also, several suspected militants were killed and two others were detained during an operation in Helmand province. The detainees include a suspected militant who was wounded during the course of operations and evacuated for further medical attention. Soldiers found opium, several AK-47s, numerous full ammunition vests, a machine gun and several rocket-propelled grenades during the operation, it was claimed.