Joint Task Force Aims to Keep Drug Money From Taliban

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2012 – Corruption is not inevitable in Afghanistan, but is a more recent phenomenon caused by 30 years of war, a coalition officer said here today.

And with coalition help, the Afghan  government is making progress against it, said Col. Paul Van Den Broek, a New Zealand soldier in charge of Joint Task Force Shafafiyat – a Dari and Pashto word meaning “transparency.”

“Will it be fast? No. But it is happening,” the colonel told reporters traveling with Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who met with Afghan and coalition leaders here today.

The Afghan government suggested the need for the task force, the colonel said, to reduce corruption so it does not present a “fatal threat” to the viability of the Afghan state.

That threat does exist now, the colonel added, and at its heart is the nexus of drugs and the Taliban.

The Taliban provide land for farmers to grow poppies, they provide the workers, they tax the product, and they provide protection, run the laboratories and then traffic the narcotics, he explained.

“To the Taliban, it is key money that they need to operate in the war,” the colonel said. “It is a case of narcotics leaving Afghanistan in exchange for lethal aid coming in.”

Van Den Broek likened the situation to insurgents in Colombia using cocaine to fund operations or the Irish Republican Army using racketeering to pay for arms and bombs.

Not all narcotics rings in Afghanistan are run by the Taliban, the colonel said, noting that other criminal networks operate in the country. But the Taliban simply cannot operate without drugs and the money they bring in, he added.

This, Van Den Broek said, is where his task force gets involved. “There has been progress made in bringing down these networks,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged, the threat remains, and he quoted a Taliban shadow governor as saying “Where there is poppy, there is Taliban. Where there is no poppy, there is no Taliban.”

“We are working to make sure there is no Taliban,” the colonel said.

Dempsey: Afghans Share Concern Over Insider Attacks

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2012 – Afghan leaders are just as concerned as coalition authorities are about insider attacks, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said today after meetings here.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said this is the first time in his dozens of trips to the region that Afghans have exhibited this same level of concern.

“I am reassured that the Afghan military and civilian leaders understand how important this moment is,” he said.

This year has seen 32 incidents of Afghan soldiers and police turning weapons on coalition personnel, said Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz of the German air force, a NATO spokesman. The alliance is taking precautions and will continue to study the situation, he said.

Dempsey said his meeting with Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, Afghanistan’s defense chief, showed him the Afghans recognize the problem.

“In the past, it’s been us pushing on them to make sure they do more,” Dempsey said at Kabul Air Base. “This time, without prompting, when I met General Karimi, he started with a conversation about insider attacks – and, importantly, insider attacks not just against us, but insider attacks against the Afghans, too.”

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 19, 32 insider attacks this year have resulted in 22 deaths, a senior defense official said. In all, 40 coalition personnel had been killed and 69 others have been wounded in those attacks. Over the same period in 2011, the official added, 16 attacks resulted in 28 deaths and 43 wounded.

Dempsey said he does not anticipate changing the basic way coalition forces work with their Afghan allies, but acknowledged that remains to be determined. “The actual key to this might not be to pull back and isolate ourselves, but [to] reach out and embrace them even more,” the general said. “Again, this is my instinct based on conversations today that I now have to flesh out with our leaders.”

In addition to meeting with Karimi, Dempsey met with Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command; Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force; and Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, the commander of ISAF Joint Command.

Dempsey also discussed the nascent anti-Taliban movement in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province and other areas in the country.

A senior NATO intelligence official told reporters residents of Ghazni’s Andar district protested against the local Taliban closing schools and attacking village leaders. In April, they  banded together and forced the Taliban out. The movement has since spread, and residents have spontaneously banded against the Taliban in 26 other areas of the country.

Dempsey called the movement “a very positive step, and one that should be encouraged.”

The chairman said he does not want to overstate the importance of the movement, because it is somewhat isolated. But it indicates the Taliban’s message is being rejected, he added.

Dempsey said the Taliban started the fighting season with three objectives: discrediting Afghanistan’s central government, impeding the development of the national security forces, and recapturing lost territory.

“In every one of those objectives they’ve failed,” he said. “We have given a real opportunity for the Afghan government to establish its governance by allowing the security environment to show progress and, therefore, hope.”

Combined Force Arrests Taliban Weapons Dealer

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 14, 2012 – An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban weapons dealer and detained two suspected insurgents in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province today, military officials reported.

The weapons dealer provided Taliban fighters with weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive device material for use in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. At the time of his arrest, officials said, he was trying to arrange weapons training for insurgents in the province.

In other news today:

-- In the Now Zad district of Helmand province, a combined force found and destroyed 16 IEDs and more than 4,100 pounds of wet opium.

-- Afghan and coalition security force officials confirmed that a Haqqani network leader responsible for numerous attacks against Afghan and coalition forces was one of those detained during an Aug. 9 operation in the Shwak district of Paktia province.

In operations yesterday:

-- In the Chimtal district of Balkh province, a combined force arrested a Taliban weapons supplier who provided machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and IEDs to insurgents for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in and around the district. The weapons supplier also placed IEDs along local roads.

-- During an operation in the Watahpur district of Kunar province, a combined force conducted a precision airstrike against a group of armed insurgents. The force confirmed the strike had killed multiple insurgents and had not injured civilians or damaged civilian property.

-- In the Sabari district of Khost province, a combined force arrested a Haqqani weapons supplier. The supplier smuggled assault rifles into the district and tried to acquire grenades for a planned attack against Afghan and coalition forces. He is also responsible for coordinating multiple attacks against security forces. The combined force also detained several suspected insurgents and seized firearms.

In Aug. 12 operations:

--In the Pul-e Alam district of Logar province, a combined force arrested a Haqqani network leader who directed and conducted numerous attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the province. Before his arrest, the Haqqani leader tried to acquire IED components for additional attacks. The security force also detained three suspected insurgents.

-- An Afghan security force, supported by coalition troops, arrested senior Taliban leader Mawawi Akbar in the Surobi district of Kabul province. Before his arrest, Akbar was one of the most senior Taliban insurgents operating in Surobi, and he was responsible for facilitating the movement of suicide bombers throughout the province.

Afghanistan: Georgia Guard members logistically running the Kabul Base Cluster behind the scenes

By Army Master Sgt. Janet J. Hill

U.S. Army

KABUL, Afghanistan - Georgia National Guard members of the 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, “Task Force Hydra,” are in the trenches of the logistics world and have been running the cluster here, making the war fighter a better, more organized fighter.

Focused in the areas of resource management, human resources, public works, emergency services, information management, plans, training and mobilization and logistics for each of its eight camps within the Kabul Base Cluster, the Guard members ensure the smooth running operations behind the scenes.

Camp Black Horse is one TF Hydra Camp Support Group run under the leadership of TF Commander, Army Col. Andy Hall, which consists of seven Soldiers who are trained in multiple positions to rotate the many duties involved in running a camp with a small group.

As a coalition support base, Camp Black Horse serves over 300 Canadian Forces along U.S. Airmen and Marines with various Coalition Forces such as Croatians, French, Jordanian and Portuguese and provides mentorship to the Afghan National Army, as well as the Canadian Quick Reactionary Force.

The purpose of the CSG on Camp Black Horse is to make sure that meals are available in the dining facility, which on any given day serves around twenty one hundred people.  They also oversee camp security which is manned by contract security personnel.

“Basically what we do is make sure that the camp functions.  We make sure that we provide what you need to do your job,” said Army Lt. Col. Kevin T. Daniels, the officer in charge of Camp Blackhorse.

“You can get up in the morning and have hot water, and lights.  You have a meal in the [dining facility] and you can go out the gate, and when you come back in there is a hot lunch waiting on you, and in the evening time, we have a [morale, welfare, and recreation] set up for you. 

“We have new pool tables, ping pong tables , movies, [videos games], everything we thought you needed just to get away from the everyday Monday dealings with the [Afghan National Army],” he said.

The daily operations consist of billeting, movement in and out of the camp, construction and helping the different coalition forces with identification badge issuing, medical, personnel accountability, and fuel. 

 “My biggest goal was to make sure everyone here understood that we are customer service because that is what [Base Operating Support-Integrator)] does,” Daniels said. “We are out talking to guys saying ‘hey what’s going on, what’s this’.”

Outside of its daily camp obligations the camp leadership participates in the Commanders Emergency Response Program which they have used to build schools and an over-bridge in the surrounding community so that local students will be safe when they have to cross the highway.

They are also responsible for providing support the interpreter village which is located out in the ANA area and has 123 interpreters.

 

“The footprint we are leaving here is everything we have done here inside Camp Blackhorse, which is about 16 different projects, and what we have done to modernize interpreter village and bring it on line,” Daniels said.

Army Sgt. Ronneil A. Brown, the camps transportation noncommissioned officer, volunteered to be on the fire brigade and is the Deputy Chief. Brown had experience outside the military as a fire fighter.

“I love it, it’s exciting.  We were able to build the fire brigade from the ground up,” Brown said.

“The fire department is one of our biggest successes out of our volunteer piece.  We have the largest fire dept in this region. It’s a combination of U.S., coalition, and contractors,” Daniels said.  “Those guys really took ownership.  It’s amazing to see all those different people come together for one common cause.”

 When it comes to making sure the camp is run properly and that everyone is take care of, the CSG goes beyond what is expected of them, “Something’s we do because it’s the right thing to do,” he said .

ISAF Continues Improvements to Afghan Hospital, Officials Say

By Amaani Lyle

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – The International Security Assistance Force has made significant improvements to save what had been a “broken” medical system for treating Afghan security forces, Defense Department officials told a congressional committee today.

David Sedney, DOD’s deputy assistant secretary for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, and Kenneth Moorefield, DOD’s deputy inspector general for special plans and operations, testified about the Dawood National Military Hospital in Kabul before the House Armed Services Committee.

Sedney and Moorefield underscored the need for the Afghan military to maintain a capable and accountable medical system. ISAF’s NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan has strengthened Afghan health systems and will continue to do so, they said.

“Thanks to the response and effort in reforming the health care and medical systems, we are now helping to turn around what had been a broken system -- introducing accountability, standards and stewardship at all levels,” Sedney said.

Over the last several years, Sedney said, coalition medical mentors and advisors highlighted “gross deficiencies” in the system and neglect in operations and basic medical care at Dawood.

Coalition medical mentors and advisers reported these findings and elevated the concerns to NTM-A senior leaders and then- commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell.

“Recognizing the enormity of the situation, General Caldwell took action,” Sedney said. “He requested the involvement of the DOD IG, Office of Special Plans and Operations, to assess the nationwide medical logistics system in Afghanistan.”

Moorefield testified that the gravity of the matter and complexity of the issues has spurred the DOD IG to undertake a succession of oversight initiatives. Since its February 2011 inspection of the hospital, he said, progress has been made in several areas.

The most significant changes occurred in 2010 and 2011, Moorefield said. Those changes included removing then-hospital commander Afghan Gen. Ahmad Zia Yaftali, developing clearly defined multitier standards and implementing new processes and procedures, he said.

Since executing these changes, there have been no complaints or evidence of patient maltreatment or neglect as of last August, Moorefield added.

The senior leadership of the training mission and the medical advisory group “recognized the critical importance of enabling a system that could provide adequate healthcare to the Afghan security forces,” he added.

ISAF Commander Condemns Farah Rocket Attack

From an International Security Assistance Force News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan – International Security Assistance Force Commander Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen condemned today’s terrorist attack against the governor’s compound in Afghanistan’s Farah province.

The attack killed an Afghan civilian and injured several people including women and children in the western province. Among the injured was a six-month-old infant who suffered shrapnel wounds when a rocket struck a playground behind the governor’s office.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those killed or hurt by this senseless act of terror,” Allen said. “In recent months, we have seen insurgent attacks increasingly focus on targeting Afghan civilians and government officials working to secure a more prosperous future for Afghanistan.”

Such attacks have caused nearly 1,500 Afghan civilian casualties so far this year, Allen said. “Once again I call upon Mullah Omar to end these brutal attacks,” he said. “If he really is in control of these elements of the Taliban, this should be possible.”

Such attacks are causing Afghans to turn against the Taliban, Allen said. “The growing frustration of the Afghan people with this senseless violence is manifesting itself in various locations across Afghanistan as Afghans are rising up against the violence and oppression of the Talban,” he said.

Officials Condemn Hotel Attack in Afghanistan

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2012 – Defense Department and International Security Assistance Force officials have condemned the brutal attack in Afghanistan on the lakeside Spozhmai Hotel west of Kabul in which terrorists killed civilians and took hostages.

Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, ISAF commander and commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said in a statement issued today that the Haqqani terrorist network is linked to the attack.

“Afghan National Security Forces and coalition military sources acknowledge that this attack bears the signature of the Haqqani network, which continues to target and kill innocent Afghans and blatantly violate Afghan sovereignty from the safety of Pakistan,” Allen said.

"Our condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those defenseless Afghans who were murdered in their sleep during the early morning hours of Jum'ah [Friday of the Muslim week] by the enemies of peace in Afghanistan,” the general added.

Allen said he was extremely impressed with the Afghan police and special-response units who arrived quickly to secure the scene and liberate civilian hostages.

“While we provided minimal support at the request of the Afghan security forces,” the general said, “there should be little doubt about their ability and capability to protect the Afghan people in the years ahead."

At the Pentagon, Press Secretary George Little and Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby condemned the brutal attack in the strongest terms.

“We’re talking about civilians who were merely trying to enjoy some time beside a lake,” Little told reporters here. “This is yet again a barbaric act perpetrated by the Haqqani network. And I would also note, as Gen. Allen at ISAF did, that the [Afghan National Security Forces] responded effectively.”

Kirby said Allen has been very aggressive, “particularly in the last several months, on targeting the Haqqanis inside Afghanistan.” Kirby added there were no reported ISAF casualties during the attack.

The Haqqani network, based in Pakistan, is allied with the Taliban and it often targets Afghan and coalition troops in Afghanistan, officials said.

Little said defense officials have “continued to press the Pakistanis to take action on their side of the border to prevent the safe haven [there] from remaining a safe place for terrorists to operate.”

“We would like for [Pakistanis] to do more,” he added. “We’ve communicated that, and we’d like to cooperate with them in finding ways to pursue militants that threaten Afghans, threaten ISAF forces and threaten Pakistanis.”

At this stage in negotiations with the Pakistani government, Little said, “the real focus is on trying to drive closer U.S.-Pakistani cooperation to bring pressure to bear against the Haqqani network and other militants who operate along the Afghan-Pakistan border.”

DEA NEWS: HAJI BAGCHO SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON ON DRUG TRAFFICKING AND NARCO-TERRORISM CHARGES

WASHINGTON – An Afghan national with ties to the Taliban was sentenced to life in prison today for conspiring to distribute heroin to the United States and for using drug proceeds to fund, arm and supply the Taliban, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

  

Haji Bagcho, an Afghan national and large scale drug trafficker, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in the District of Columbia.  In addition to his prison term, Bagcho was ordered to forfeit $254,203,032 in drug proceeds along with his property in Afghanistan. 

“This is DEA at its finest, working in close collaboration with our Afghan partners to end the long reign of this Afghan drug lord whose drug proceeds financed terror,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart.  “One of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers who helped fund the Taliban will spend his remaining days behind bars in a U.S. prison due to the relentless efforts of DEA, our Afghan counterparts and our prosecuting partners.”   

         

 “Haji Bagcho led a massive drug production and trafficking operation that supplied heroin in more than 20 countries, including the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “In 2006 alone, he conducted heroin transactions worth more than $250 million.  Bagcho used the profits of his narcotics trafficking operation to support high-level Taliban commanders in Afghanistan.  Today’s life sentence is an appropriate punishment for one of the most notorious heroin traffickers in the world.”

Bagcho was convicted by a jury on March 13, 2012, after a three week trial, of one count of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; one count of distribution of one kilogram or more of heroin knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; and one count of narco-terrorism.  The trial, before Judge Huvelle, was only the second under the narco-terrorism statute since its enactment in 2006.  

Bagcho was charged in a superseding indictment on Jan. 28, 2010, after his arrest and extradition to the United States from Afghanistan in May 2009.

The DEA, in cooperation with their Afghan counterparts, conducted the investigation, which revealed that Bagcho was one of the largest heroin traffickers in the world and manufactured the drug in clandestine laboratories along Afghanistan’s border region with Pakistan.  According to information presented at trial, Bagcho, who had been operating his heroin business since at least the 1990s, sent the drug to more than 20 countries, including the United States.  Proceeds from his heroin trafficking were then used to support high-level members of the Taliban in furtherance of their insurgency in Afghanistan.

With the help of cooperating witnesses, evidence showed that the DEA purchased heroin directly from Bagcho’s organization on two occasions, which Bagcho understood was destined for the United States.  They also conducted several searches of residences belonging to Bagcho and his associates, recovering evidence consistent with drug trafficking.  During one search, ledgers belonging to the defendant were found and were later introduced at trial.  One ledger, cataloguing Bagcho’s activities during 2006 alone, reflected heroin transactions totaling more than 123,000 kilograms, worth more than $250 million.  Based on heroin production statistics compiled by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime for 2006, the defendant’s trafficking accounted for approximately 20 percent of the total amount of heroin produced worldwide that year.

Over several years, evidence at trial established that Bagcho used a portion of his drug proceeds to provide cash, weapons and other supplies to the former Taliban governor of Nangarhar Province and two Taliban commanders responsible for insurgent activity in eastern Afghanistan, so that they could continue their “jihad” against western troops and the Afghan government.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Matthew Stiglitz and Marlon Cobar of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section.  The case was investigated by the DEA Special Operations Division in the United States, with assistance from the DEA’s Foreign Deployed Advisory Support Team and Kabul Country Office in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and in close cooperation with Afghan law enforcement.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section provided invaluable support.