U.S., Afghan Forces Displace Taliban in Eastern Afghanistan

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2011 – U.S. troops and Afghan security forces serving in eastern Afghanistan are displacing the Taliban, making room for economic growth and governance, a task force commander serving in the area said today.

Army Col. Andrew Poppas, commander of Task Force Bastogne and the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, briefed Pentagon reporters during a video teleconference from his headquarters at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

Task Force Bastogne conducts combined aggressive operations throughout its area of operation with the Afghan army, the border police and the national police, Poppas said.

“Kinetic operations tend to overshadow the herculean efforts that are being made to establish long-term stability through governance and development,” the colonel said.

Poppas’ 3,800-soldier brigade deployed to Afghanistan in May. The brigade’s mission is to fight insurgents and bolster governance and development in Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan provinces.

Integrated into the task force plan are two provincial reconstruction teams, three agribusiness development teams and 10 district support teams, “all of which have been able to make demonstrable progress in over 40 districts and municipalities” in the three provinces, Poppas said.

The colonel described positive achievements in 2010 in district and provincial governance and in economic development, including success at the “Torkham Gate.”

Torkham -- a border town in Nangarhar linked by a highway with Jalalabad to the west and Peshawar to the east -- is the busiest port of entry between Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Poppas, noting that it forms an economic corridor that runs through Jalalabad and all the way to the Afghan capital of Kabul.

“Revenue has come through the gate,” he said. “We've seen an increase in economic development [in] the area that runs through Jalalabad and then up toward Asadabad.”

Agribusiness has increased exponentially, he added.

Governance has progressed, Poppas said, with activities such as court trials and conflict resolution that promote the rule of law and reassure local populations about the reliability of provincial and, more recently, district legal authorities and government officials.

Evidence of strengthened governance also comes from the development and stewardship of a central government budget that provides budgetary guidelines for provinces and districts, the colonel said.

“I've already seen [such progress] within six months,” Poppas said, “and as we continue our operations under this umbrella of security that we're providing, along with our [Afghan security forces] brothers, you'll continue to see that development and governance progress.”

But fighting is not over in that part of the country, where the provinces for which the task force is responsible share 250 miles of border with Taliban-infested regions of Pakistan, Poppas said. For years, he said, insurgents have used the remote and treacherous terrain of places such as Nuristan, on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush Mountains, as safe havens.

In Bargi Matal, a district in northeastern Nuristan province, the Taliban occupied a local village to establish a base for planning and staging attacks.

“The [Afghan forces] led a combined operation called Operation Azmaray Fury to take back the village,” Poppas said, “establishing security throughout the entire district that has been in place for over five months now.” Afghan forces have maintained that security without the presence of coalition forces, he added.

Another combined effort, Operation Strong Eagle, took place early in the summer in Kunar province’s Marawara district.

“This Afghan-led operation succeeded in defeating the enemy,” Poppas said, and the provincial government now leads development projects that will limit the freedom of movement of the insurgents and build the population’s confidence.

In his region of responsibility, Poppas said, the local people are very positive.

“The people themselves, as you engage with them, as you talk with them, as you walk through the markets and you get a sense of how they feel about it, it's extremely positive in most areas that I dealing with,” he said.

“So I do think there's a light at the end of the tunnel,” Poppas said. “I think it’s sustainable, because of a lot of the mentorship and stewarding we have done previously, and we’ll be able to start transitioning specific areas over to Afghan control.”

Wars, People, Balancing Risk Top Chairman’s 2011 Guidance

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2011 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s guidance for 2011 charts the way forward in America’s wars, in improving the health of the force and in balancing global risks.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen’s 2011 guidance was released today, relaying the admiral’s priorities and strategic objectives for the year.

The military’s mission this year focuses on defending America’s vital national interests in the broader Middle East and in South-Central Asia, the chairman’s guidance says. He noted that in 2010, more American troops and resources were dedicated to the war in Afghanistan to support the U.S. strategic objective to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The surge in U.S. forces has helped arrest Taliban momentum in some places, though we have not yet seen a fundamental shift in momentum necessary to deny al-Qaida safe haven and prevent them from threatening U.S. or ally interests,” Mullen wrote.

In addition to the U.S. surge, Afghanistan now has more trained and capable army and police forces. Across the border, Pakistani security forces have taken back vast swaths of the border area, “and al-Qaida senior leadership is weaker than at any other point since it fled Afghanistan in 2001,” the chairman wrote.

Looking ahead, U.S., Afghan and coalition forces must continue to apply pressure on the Taliban and al-Qaida, Mullen wrote, adding that the U.S. military will continue to develop the trust and experience needed to build a strategic partnership with Pakistan.

The U.S. military also recognizes the crucial role India plays in the region, Mullen noted. The United States welcomes India’s “steadying contributions to regional stability, and applaud the ministerial talks between India and Pakistan,” he wrote. “The next year will be critical, but our commitment to all our regional partners is enduring.”

In Iraq, fewer than 50,000 American troops remain, all engaged in advising and assisting Iraq’s security forces. All American forces will be out of the country by the end of 2011.

“As our military draws down, a robust Office of Security Cooperation will form the cornerstone of our security partnership with the Iraqis,” Mullen said. “We must ensure this transition is adequately resourced to get it right.”

The United States is concentrating more attention on the Persian Gulf and on the area composed of Southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Mullen wrote. U.S. service members are working to train legitimate forces, defeat transnational groups and combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Iran, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, is the most significant threat in the region, he added, and the American military will “continue to plan for a broad range of military options should the president decide to use force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms.”

The guidance also addresses the health of the force and the welfare of its people. Mullen wrote that the strain on the U.S. force will remain high in 2011, especially for special operators, the Army and the Marine Corps. The Army and Marine Corps will not reach the target ratio of one year deployed and two years at home station this year, he acknowledged.

This lack of balance affects the capabilities that forces have, Mullen said, as soldiers and Marines do not have the time to conduct training to carry out the full range of missions.

“I will issue instructions that we adopt ‘Total Force Fitness’ -– a methodology for changing the way we understand, assess and maintain our peoples’ well-being and sustaining our ability to carry out our mission,” the chairman wrote.

The military will continue to focus on rising suicide rates and the signature injuries of the wars –- post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries. Mullen said the problems probably will get worse before they get better, and that leaders at all levels must improve their understanding of the scope of the problems and the signs and symptoms of vulnerable populations.

The chairman’s guidance says he wants the government to cooperate to build a “continuum of care” that spans the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments.

Mullen also stressed the importance of the services working together. “We must develop more effective ways to improve and assess joint and unit readiness,” he wrote. “Training and exercises must become more joint, interagency and multinational.”

The chairman said reinforcing readiness goes hand in hand with finding efficiencies in the department, as the military must focus resources where they are needed most.

On balancing global risk, Mullen wrote, it’s more of an art than a science. The United States will maintain forward presence and have forces ready to respond to all contingencies, he said.

“Since our top priority this year is success in Afghanistan, our air and maritime forces must shoulder additional responsibilities and provide the primary capabilities to balance global risk elsewhere,” he wrote.

Asia is the region most affected by this, he noted. “We will closely monitor the uncertainty stemming from political succession in North Korea, and maintain a robust deterrent against future provocations,” the chairman wrote. “We seek to resume military-to-military relations with China in order to prevent miscommunication and foster cooperation in areas of mutual interest.” The United States will defend freedom of navigation and access to sea lines of communication, he added.

In addition, the military must address risks in Somalia, Yemen and North Africa, Mullen wrote, as well as the increasing risks in the cyber world. The American military also must be prepared to move at a moment’s notice when catastrophe strikes, he added, as it did in response to an earthquake in Haiti and flooding in Pakistan last year.

Meanwhile, Mullen said, the U.S. military must remain the professional, disciplined and apolitical force that Americans admire.

“Strength of character is the heart of our armed forces,” he wrote. “It is a strength that comes from the remarkable diversity of the citizens we protect and serve.”

Mullen said the military will continue to value the diversity and inclusivity of the military.

“I look forward to working with Defense Secretary [Robert M.] Gates and the service chiefs to prepare and certify the joint force to implement the new law that repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” he wrote. “I commit to making sure the process is well-led, maintains our combat readiness and upholds our high standards.”

Face of Defense: Con Man's Son Serves Honorably

By Army Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

American Forces Press Service

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 5, 2011 – For 10 years he sat behind a desk as an investment banker and managed more than $100 million in assets.

He also dreamed of getting out from behind that desk.

"I thought about it every day honestly," said Army Pfc. Bruce S. Simms, a 34-year-old rifleman. "At the bank, I would sit behind the desk and think about wanting to be [in the Army] every day for 10 years."

Simms shrugged off the shackles of the investment-banking world and the generous pay that goes with it to become an infantryman assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s Company B, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, 1st Brigade Combat Team.

He now lives on a small, spartan combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province.

"I'm just a common American who loves his country and wants to see great things come from our country," Simms said while resting a bruised leg in his room at Combat Outpost Fortress. He had just returned from a two-day mission in the mountains bordering Pakistan where he slipped and injured his leg. But that didn't stop him from completing the operation with his unit.

"My dad taught me as a kid that you can do whatever it is you want to do," Simms said. "Whenever an obstacle presents itself, take a step back, change your direction of battle, regroup and go back and attack the target again."

Simms readjusted the ice pack on his ankle and continued.

"Growing up, my dad was kind of a hero to me, so I wanted to follow in his footsteps and avoid some of the mistakes that he made," he said.

He laughed nervously when asked for elaboration.

"That would be getting into a whole different story,” he said. “You have no idea of what you're digging up right now. The Army knows all about him."

He hefted his wounded leg out of bed and motioned for his visitor to follow him outside to a bunker to explain who his father was.

Simms said he actually had eight different fathers as he grew up. Their names were Wayne Simms, Kenny Tyler, Thomas Michael Lamar, Brandon Lee Bailey, David Auni, Michael Simms, Robert Simms and Paul Robert Ritter. He now knows him as one man -- David Michael Pecard.

"My dad was a very dishonorable man, but a very honorable man at the same time. It's very weird," Simms said. "The guy, for lack of a better word, was a crook."

Simms' father had a plethora of jobs from police officer to emergency room technician to soldier. In fact, his father enlisted in the Army at the age of 14 to fight in Vietnam. After fellow soldiers discovered his real age, Simms' father was sent back home. Within a few months, he rejoined the Army. In 1974, he married Susan Kwon and took her to America, but disappeared when their second child was 6 days old. Simms' said his father drifted back into his life occasionally throughout his childhood, but never stayed for long. He had other families to visit.

"He's had like eight different wives across different countries," the soldier explained with a laugh.

"David Pecard is probably one of the biggest con men in the United States," Simms said. "Actually, he went on record as probably being the biggest one, unfortunately."

Not only did Pecard fraudulently join the military at 14, then again at 17 with different aliases, but joined it five more times for a total of seven different identities.

Pecard described himself as the Robin Hood of con men. For example, he helped to put criminals behind bars when he worked as a fake military attache to the Maricopa County Police Department in Arizona.

"In my opinion, although he did serve his country, it was a dishonorable thing to defraud his government like that," said Simms, adding that he wanted to try to bring honor to his family with his own enlistment.

"I know it's a cliché that the family name doesn't mean much to some, but to me it does. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned that way," Simms said. "I didn't join the military [for] money for college. I've been to college. I joined not because I needed a better salary. I took probably about a 60 percent pay cut to serve. I joined because I wanted to serve my country honorably."

But the process to serve honorably wasn't easy, he added.

"When I was younger, being like dad, I made a stupid mistake," he acknowledged. "I stole some money from a job I had, and fortunately, got arrested for it."

Though Simms later had his misdemeanor expunged, sealed and erased by the court, the Army Recruiting Command saw things differently. Because the amount stolen was more than $500, the Uniform Code of Military Justice viewed it as a felony.

Though Simms had managed more than $100 million as an investment banker and had graduated from Newburgh Theological Seminary and College of the Bible to become a pastor, his credibility was under question, he said.

"So I went back to Chicago, had the case reopened and had the case changed from guilty to not guilty," he said. "After several months, I still didn't hear an answer and wanted to know who I needed to talk to.

Simms was told that the recruiting command’s commanding general had denied his request to enlist. Simms said he then submitted a packet directly to the general, who a few weeks later flew into town to meet with him and his wife over dinner.

"The [general] wanted to know why I wanted to serve so badly and why I didn't give up and why I didn't quit," Simms said. "I told him, 'The same amount of effort I put into wanting to join the military is the same amount I'll put into being a good soldier.'

"And that's really what I wanted to do," he continued. "Not just come in and be a soldier, but be a good soldier and contribute to our country and our war effort here in Afghanistan."

The next day, Simms got a call from his recruiter to sign a contract.

"I wanted to come in and serve, and it didn't matter how," Simms said. "If the Army needed someone to come in and clean toilets, then guess what, I would have come in and cleaned toilets just so I can serve our country in a time of war. And that's really the honest-to-God reason why I'm here."

Simms shuffled his weight off his injured leg inside the tiny bunker and laughed again. He smiled and then stared off into the distance at a pile of sandbags.

"As a kid, I'd run all the time," he finally said. "Constantly, all the time, I'd run. I was running probably a good 20 miles a week, sometimes 30 miles a week. There's no question when I came to basic training at 34 years old, I was running circles around these guys, because I kept running. I even ran the Los Angeles Marathon."

Running is in his blood, he explained.

"When I was a kid, [my father would] come around and we'd run," Simms said.

But no matter how far or how fast his father ran, the law and the Army eventually caught up to him. In 1996, he was sent to prison. After a couple of years, he filed a motion to dismiss his case, helped in his own representation, and won.

"When I say it's been an incredible journey, it's been an incredible journey," Simms said.

DOD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Fritz and Col. Mulholland via Teleconference from Afghanistan

MR. JAMES TURNER (deputy director, Defense Press Operations):  Good morning here, and good morning in Afghanistan.  I'd like to welcome back to the Pentagon Briefing Room major -- German Major General Hans-Werner Fritz, commanding general for Regional Command North.  General Fritz assumed his duties in Pakistan last year on June 20th.  Most recently, he joined us in September in this format.  And he joins us today from his headquarters in Mazar-e Sharif to provide an update on current operations.  General Fritz will brief today, along with his deputy, U.S. Army Colonel Sean Mulholland.  They will make some opening remarks, and then will take your questions.

And with that, sir, I'll turn it over to you.

GEN. FRITZ:  Yeah, hello, and good morning to Washington.  First of all, I would like to say it's a great pleasure to talk to you again like we did in September.  I think for all the ones who were not present last time, just one -- brief remarks on the Regional Command North.  First of all, to give you at least an idea, Regional Command North has about the size of Nevada or Wyoming.  About one-third of the Afghan population is living in Regional Command North.  We are talking about 8 to 10 million.  And what concerns our troops, I have under command around about 11,000.

When we talked last time, I gave you some ideas about the restructuring phase we were in at this time.  Now we have finished that phase.  It starts with our HQ [headquarters] in Mazar-e Sharif.  We are now at the personnel level of about 360.  We are from 60 nations.  I think this is the highest density of nations we have in all of the theater.

We have restructured our troops.  We have now here a -- the complete combat air brigade from the United States, 4th CAB [combat aviation brigade].  We have here one brigade, 110th from the 10th Mountain.  We have here two German battle troops, mounted infantry and paratroopers.  And I must really say the soldiers, all grades, they are operating and they are cooperating diligently.  They are fighting brave, and they are doing very, very well.  And what I would like to say to you in Washington: especially the cooperation with the U.S. soldiers at all levels, it's really excellent.

And if I may, just to give you an example for that, it was in October and we had a day of fierce fighting.  It started when a suicider attacked a German position.  These were paratroopers from my division in Germany.  And this suicider, he killed one German soldier and wounded a lot more.  And we asked for medevac, and the medevac came.  This was -- these were two American Black Hawks from Fort Campbell, and they -- although it was really -- as we say in German, there was a lot of iron in the air.  They came down, they recovered the wounded, and then they started again.  And obviously, being in the air again, they became aware that there was -- there's a dead soldier on the ground.  And they came back under fire, they recovered the soldier and they said:  We are taking home a fallen hero.  And I can promise you, the German paratrooper, the German "fallschirmjäger," will never forget that.  This is the quality of the cooperation we are talking about.

But also, due to the Afghans, we are doing very well. The partnering is close, the mentoring is good.  And this also concerns all levels.  As you might know that here in Regional Command North we have the complete Afghan corps, so that the cooperation starts at corps level.  We are doing all the planning together.  We see each other on a regular basis, I would say nearly every week.  It goes down to the Afghan brigades, to the kandaks, which are the battalions, and to the companies as well.  And really, our soldiers -- might they be the Germans, the Americans, the people -- soldiers from the -- from Scandinavia -- they are fighting shoulder-and- shoulder.  And this is very important.

We are planning together, as I have already mentioned, all our operations.  We had an interesting backbrief two days ago.  It was for a plan.  It's called Omid 1390 [Operation Hope], which stands for the year 2011-12 in the Islamic world.  And this backbrief was for the IJC [International Security Assistance Force Joint Command], for our superiors, if you like, for the Afghan MOD [Ministry of Defense] and the MOI [Ministry of the Interior].

And I think we could present ourselves as a really good Combined Team North.  And our Afghan friends, they did very, very well on that.

But it's not only the cooperation with the military. It's also with the civilian side.  We invited in Regional Command North some days ago in mid-December all the governors of the regional commands.  They came together.  We talked about the security situation, about development, about government.  And this really formed some sort of a team spirit, of a very good team spirit. Today, I, for instance, I was in the Samangan and the Takhar province talking to the two governors, listening what they have to say.  And this is really what brings us forward.

So I can say our partnership has really produced tangible results.

We have improved the security in our region.  We are doing well in the Baghlan-Kunduz corridor.  You remember, we talked about this in September.  I think we have, especially in this critical area, made good progress.  We have a good combination of operations between the conventional forces as well as the special forces, which is an excellent mix, doing well very.  

And I could imagine my perspective is we are approaching some sort of a culmination point. Like we had mentioned, we will have still some hard weeks and months to go, but my guess is the -- my estimate is that the situation will become more better.  

And with that, I would like to turn it over to my deputy, to Colonel Mulholland.  Colonel, please.

COL. MULHOLLAND:  Thank you, sir.  Good day, ladies and gentlemen.  

I would like to complement what Major General Fritz has stated. Truly, I'm -- I am optimistic about the last few months, since we last talked in September all the way till now.  Progress has been made in RC North.  There are factual operations that have taken place that have done very, very well moving the insurgency out of the areas such as Kunduz, Baghlan and Faryab.  

We've been using SOF [special operations forces] as -- in the form of shaping operations before conventional troops have gone into the area, and we've had great success winning the hearts and minds of the civilians once the conventional forces have gone in there.  And also, we've been able to hold large expanses of terrain and also build COPs, combat outposts, and FOBs [forward operating base] to secure and anchor those areas that have been gained through the wintertime.

Also, as an adjunct to that, the Afghan peace and reconciliation program has taken off in RC North due to people that are -- don't want to fight anymore and people that have decided to side with the Afghan government.

Another program that has been very efficient up here is the Afghan Local Police program.  Currently there are two sites that are functioning, with a tashkil [roster] of 225 and 325 [personnel].  That's in -- (inaudible) --, which is west of Kunduz and Baghlan.  And the next site they'll go up in is in Faryab.

The Afghan Local Police is a GIRoA-backed [Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan], GIRoA-led program that gives former insurgents jobs and people that have reconciled jobs.  So it also helps us fill in the white space, and it builds another security force for us up here in RC North.

Once you've secured those areas, you have the ability to put in CERP [Commander’s Emergency Response Program] projects and do some good construction and development programs with USAID and other international NGOs up here in RC North, which have really -- has really made a difference up here in terms of the civilian populace and how it feels towards ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and the Afghan government.

So to sum up what we've done in the last four months, persistence -- as General Fritz covered -- persistence and partnerships have improved; coordination, planning, and execution of missions have improved.  Communications between leaders have improved to include the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] leaders as well as the governors that General Fritz just talked about. 

And development projects are maturing.  As you know, CERP is used for quick-hitting projects.  The mid- and long-term CERP and NGO projects take a little longer to take place and get contracted and be implemented.  So all that -- all those development projects are starting to maturate, and the people are really starting to see an improvement and the backing of the Afghan government up here in RC North.

Over to you.

MR. TURNER:  Okay.  Who's first?  

Dan.

Q:  Could you describe over -- the state and the strength of the insurgency in the north over the past six months or a year?  You mentioned a culmination point approaching.  Are you suggesting that the insurgency is weaker in your region than it was since September or previous to that?

And can you describe the levels of violence that you're seeing and whether there are certain -- you talked about terrain that's now secure.  Can you be more specific?  Are there main roads now that are now usable that were not before, that are now secure?

GEN. FRITZ:  Thanks.  First of all, what concerns the, let's say, the fighting, the resistance of the Taliban, of the insurgents, my impression is -- and this is why I'm using the term "culmination point" -- the way they fight becomes more and more desperate and more and more brutal.

And I will give you an example for that.  You might have heard that in October, one of the province governors was killed in -- this was the province governor of Kunduz.  He was killed, it must be mentioned, in a mosque on the -- during the Friday prayer.  This is comparable, I think, if you would kill a politician of the United States or in Germany on a Sunday mass, mass in a church, and then you would tell the people you would like the Christians.

And it is also the way they treat their own populace.  I mean, they're using people as living shields and so on and so on.  And I think from that perspective, they really get aware that it's -- it is getting now very, very serious for them, and they are -- have a feeling that we are -- we are making this progress.

And what concerns the area, the terrain, talking about Kunduz-Baghlan corridor, you know, it is very important because two roads -- two LOCs [lines of communication] -- they come from the north from the Hairatan border crossing, from Uzbekistan and from Shir Khan Bandar, from Tajikistan.

And it is very important to keep these open for all our resupply, not only for the civilian one but also for the military ones.  And I think we are successful in to keep this -- these routes open.

Q:  So just to follow up, then, is -- are -- is the Taliban expanding its areas in the north?  Is it -- and are levels of violence increasing or is the opposite the case?

GEN. FRITZ:  Could you repeat your question, please?  I couldn't get it precisely.  Please, could you repeat it?

Q:  Is the Taliban expanding its activity in the north?  And are -- is -- are levels of violence increasing, or is the opposite the case?

GEN. FRITZ:  I think the influence of the Taliban is diminishing, definitely.  And as we said, they are leaving the area.  If they don't leave, they were killed.  They were handing themselves over to us -- this is what Colonel Mulholland mentioned -- by the reintegration program.  So they are simply giving up.  

And the security bubble we have here in the area, Kunduz, Baghlan, as west -- as well as we have in west -- (inaudible) -- it is permanently expanding.  So it is getting better.

Q:  What evidence do you have that any serious type Taliban commanders and others are actually prepared to give up?  Are you just talking about very low-level people who are coming and handing over their arms?

GEN. FRITZ:  I mean, I can only talk about the Taliban leaders here in our -- in our region.  And so I'm talking about the low and the medium level, I think.  And these people are really -- a lot of them are giving up; they're coming with their -- with their soldiers, if you like, or with their -- with the members of their troops.  It might be 10.  It might -- been 15 or more, sometimes.  And they are obviously they're giving up.

My impression is that also these people, they are war tired on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are -- they really get a feeling that they're on loser street.

Q:  But when they come, what do you give to them to convince them that they should swap sides, as it were?  

GEN. FRITZ:  I mean, there are two programs we can offer.  The one is the APRP, the Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Program, and the other one is the ALP program, the Afghan Local Police Program.  Both programs have as a precondition that all these people are registered, that they are telling clearly that they agree on the Afghan constitution, on the Afghan law, that they accept GIRoA as authorities.  Then they have to hand over their weapons they were registered, the people were registered.  We are checking as good as we can whether there are really criminals among them.  

And then they can go into the programs.  What concerns the reintegration program, they can learn a civilian job, I would say, they could get a -- maybe a teacher, whatever they like, on the one hand.  On the other hand, they can join the Afghan Local Police Program, so they can join the local police, which is a special program.  And I think, Sean, if you like, you can comment on that in a little bit more detail.

COL. MULHOLLAND:  The simple answer to an APRP and ALP is APRP allows them, after they've been forgiven and, obviously, enrolled in the program, it gives them the opportunity for vocational training. While they're going to training, they receive a stipend of $88 a month to keep food on the table.  The ALP is actually a job, which is a program they can stay enrolled in for two to five years.  

So that's the difference between the APRP program and the ALP program.  Both are good alternatives to what they're doing now.

And a lot of people are seeing the light and wanting to become part of the Afghan government or part of the solution.

Q: This is Al Pessin with VOA. Can you give us some numbers as well as what the percentages are of these Taliban who have surrendered?

GEN. FRITZ: I mean you can only give, from my point of view, a percentage if you know exactly what 100 percent is. What we can say is in terms of real figures, there are groupings coming to us -- they might be 20, they might be more than 20. Very, very -- actually, currently we have a group which would like to come to us in the Takhar province -- we are talking about 36 men. In the other provinces it might be more. And this is what we expect to come. And this equals exactly the size of the group they are fighting in. You know, these are not battalions which are coming. They fight in groups, as I have already said, between 10, 15, 20 maybe more, maybe thirty or forty.

But that is what we see on the radar on our bases.

COL. MULHOLLAND: The current totals in RC North are -- that we have to date is we have had 540 formally reintegrated in RC North. Last week we reintegrated 64 up in Emam Saheb. And they have been doing very well. And they’re under the -- it’s an Afghan program -- so they’re under the supervision of the provincial governor, the district chief -- the provincial chief of police and the district governor. And we help them administer the program.

GEN. FRITZ: I mean, if I may add on that, this is truly a decisive point to make clear: that ISAF is in a supporting role as concerns both programs, the APRP and the ALP program as well.

But there is another important point. It is very, very important that the people really accept these homecoming ones. So the forgiving is important and the people, the village – they must really accept these people to say: yes, we would like to have them here because they are from the area, they are from the village and they are not from somewhere else.

Q: General, I know it’s difficult, but -- general or colonel, can you guess at an approximate percentage that the 540 represents? Is it 1 percent, 5, 10, any number you can put on it?

GEN. FRITZ: No, I mean, this is -- if you ask me for the percentage, what the 500 stands for, 550, it would really mean we can exactly count what is in the area which is difficult because groups are moving from one part to the other. But I think it is a percentage which really makes a difference and the tendency which I see for the future is more to come in. So this is really a success we can talk about.

Q: Colonel, yes, David Cloud with the LA Times. I just wanted to follow up on something you said about the ALP.  How many ALP units do you have in your region now? And  roughly, I don’t expect exact numbers, but how many personnel are involved in the program in your region now? And how many are planned sort of over the next six months? I mean, I think the plan is to ramp this program up fairly dramatically. So how many -- so what does it look like now and what is it going to look like in the next month?

GEN. FRITZ: It’s about the ALP.

COL. MULHOLLAND: ALP.

The -- right now we have two sites that are active and the third site is going to happen this month in Faryab.

Right now there are nine sites that have been approved by the MOI, and we will get them in as soon as we have the mentors in place.

With ALP, you have to have people that are administrating the equipment and, obviously, conducting the training and mentoring the new -- the newly aligned Afghan Local Police.  So they can just throw weapons out there and throw trucks out there and uniforms and assume it's going to go well.  So they -- we're doing it under control.  It's under control of CFSOCC [Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command] out of ISAF.  And as we work with the CFSOCC folks, we are implementing ALP as fast and as controlled as possible.  Over.

Q:  I haven't heard the program described as a reintegration program before.  Maybe that's just my ignorance, but do you see it -- do you use it primarily as a reintegration program, ie. to bring former fighters back into loyalty to the government, or is anyone eligible -- any tribe, any region, eligible to offer up individuals to serve as ALP personnel?

GEN. FRITZ:  Well, I think, first of all what concerns the reintegration program, it is really a program to bring people back into society, so to speak.  You remember at the beginning I said my impression is that the people are war tired.  It is the population -- and I think there is a lot of the Taliban fighters.  And, I mean, the best what can happen is really they give up, they go back to the village they are from, and they joining the reintegration program. And the job training they get, the vocational training is very good. And also the community, the village they go to, they get some money to support them into these programs.  So they are -- both sides -- it's a win-win situation.

In the medium- and long-term, I think this is exactly what we need.  I mean, if the foot soldiers, so to speak, are leaving the Taliban, the Taliban leaders to where -- who should the Taliban leaders fight with?

And this is really a very important point.  And it is -- the reintegration program, from my point of view, is not only to gain people for the ALP program, but also the ALP program, as we have already said, is at the moment, is without alternative, because it also helps us to fill gaps we have still with the Afghan uniformed police.

Q:  Could I make one more try here?  Okay.  Just one more follow- up.  But, I, the ALP program has been presented as a program to defend against the Taliban.  I mean, I understand that what you're talking about is reintegration, bringing fighters back in.  But I don't -- I never heard it called a reintegration program per se before.  And I am curious, I mean, how do you make sure that these units that you have -- that you're signing up -- small numbers, albeit -- are, in fact, loyal to the government in the ALP?

COL. MULHOLLAND:  The -- when the APRPs are signed up, they are vetted by the Afghans, and they're also forgiven by the people that come from their village.  And a lot of the APRP -- and the ALP, for that matter -- are placed back in their local villages.  They're not moved around from city to city.  So there's a lot of people that know these people and have a historical knowledge of these people and their history.

So the local police and the provincial chief of police are the people that do the vetting on these people to make sure that they are -- they are from the area and they are obviously willing to participate in the reintegration program, and they can vouch for their history and what things they've done, allegedly, in -- throughout their lives.

So that's the process that we use, and that's -- it's part of the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.  So that's part of the vetting that we do with the Afghans.  Over.

MR. TURNER:  Luis.

Q:  Gentlemen, it's Luis Martinez with ABC News.

It sounds like you're making progress with Taliban who are from -- who are local Taliban, they are from the region.  

How much of a problem is it from fighters who come from other parts of Afghanistan, say, from Kandahar?  Are they a significant problem for you up there, in the north?

GEN. FRITZ:  Well, we have very often got these questions concerning fighters coming from other provinces into the north.  I mean, you never can exclude this, but what we can see at the moment -- and this is the situation picture we have -- there are not so many coming from other parts of Afghanistan into the north. There might be, from time to time, some sort of an exchange of knowledge which they have, for instance, in terms of IED [improvised explosive device].  But we're not talking about big numbers coming from outside.  

Yes, we have some foreign fighters on the Taliban.  You can recognize these people.  They have special gear; they have a little bit different weapons.  But I also think that the numbers are not so tremendous.

Q:  Again, General Petraeus has spoken, if I got his phraseology right, about stopping the Taliban momentum in most of the country and reversing it in much of the country.  

Can you describe your area in those terms as to what percentage of your AOR [area of responsibility] the Taliban has the momentum, where it's been stopped and where it's been reversed?  And how will that situation influence the recommendations that you have made and will make to ISAF headquarters about potential troop reductions later this year?

GEN. FRITZ:  Well, first of all, what concerns the momentum of our operations, I can tell you we will keep it.  And I have always said and I think I've already said this in September.  If we can, we will fight the winter through, to make sure that all the foxholes are closed when the one or the other of the Taliban might come back in spring.

Yeah, this is one thing.

The other thing is what concerns the question of reduction of troops.  I think -- and please remember I was speaking about the culmination point, and we haven't reached that point. So there are still -- there's still a way to go for the forthcoming weeks and months.  And I'm saying this might be really fierce fighting we have before we have reached the top.  

And what I think is that the year 2011 -- so it's this year -- will be a decisive year, and we should see how the situation develops.  And in the end, we have to make a clear statement what we -- what -- how we see the progress in security.  This is one thing.  

The other aspect is, reduction of troops, from my point of view, is not only dependent from the security situation; it is also dependent from the development situation and the good governance situation.  So with other words, the reduction of troops is a purely -- is a very high-level political questions -- question which has to be decided, first of all, and discussed among the ISAF nations, and then we have to talk about this with the Afghan side.

Q:  General, generally speaking, the north has been seen as, you know, not the hottest area of fighting in Afghanistan, and it's an area where I think -- some observers believe some of the initial troop reductions could come.  Would you agree with that? 

GEN. FRITZ:  I'm not sure whether I got the first part of the -- of your question.  It was about -- again, about reduction of troop levels, right?  What was the first part of the question?  Could you repeat this, please?

Q:  Sure.  That the north is not the area of the most intense fighting in the country and that therefore there's some expectation that some of the initial troop reductions could come from your area, and I was asking whether you agree that your area would be ready for some of those initial reductions by July.

GEN. FRITZ:  Yeah, got this.  I mean, you are absolutely right in saying that we are not in the point of -- in the operational point of main effort here in Afghanistan, which is definitely in the south and southwest, as you know.

But I wouldn't say this is all what automatically means that we have to -- that we have to start the troop reductions here.  I mean, what -- I've described the area we are in.  And, again, it is like Wyoming and Nevada.  It's 11,000 troops under command.  We have on the Afghan side about 9,000 and some more from the police side.  But this is really what I need at the moment, and if the forthcoming weeks and months are such as I expect to be, because -- which means we have to -- still to fight.  This is what we need, and there are -- there's, I think, from that perspective no room for reduction at the moment.

MR. TURNER:  Okay.  We have time for one more question.

Q:  Well, I just need him to clarify, at the moment, or during this entire year?  Because the question was in 2011 through July and then --

GEN. FRITZ:  Sorry, what -- I mean, what we are doing now is a little bit, you know, crystalballing.  I was more happy than happy if I could say how the situation would look like at the end of this year.  Possibly, this was the $5 million question.  But what I'm saying is, as a soldier, let's see how the situation develops this year.  And we are permanently in the progress -- in the process of making assessment of the situation. 

And I think in the second half of the year, let's see what the situation is like.  If the situation is so stable that you can talk about troop reductions, can do it, if we find out that in some areas, we can afford to put our troops, maybe, maybe we have to re-invest it on the other side.

But again, you have all to -- you have -- you have to see this all within the political frame; within the frame, also, of development and good governance.

MR. TURNER:  Okay.  Last question.

Q:  Hi.  This is Kevin Baron from Stars and Stripes.  Colonel, could you just get more specific on the ALP?  You said there were two sites.  How many people have joined the ALP in those two sites?  And how many of them are known to be ex-Taliban?

COL. MULHOLLAND:  The two sites -- one is a tashkil of 225, and we expect that to be filled.  Currently there's about 120 enrolled. And as the -- as the insurgents come -- or they don't have to be insurgents.  They have -- they can be reconciles, they can be locals that actually want a security job.  They come to them.  And the other -- the other place is down in Baghlan.  Currently there is 150. There'll be 200 by tomorrow.  And they are enrolling and assessing, from MOI, the ALP candidates.  As a percentage of how many are Taliban, I couldn't beg to guess.  I'm sure there are some, and some of our vetting processes have -- showed that some of the -- some of the people that are trying to get in there are Taliban, but they're not allowed to be -- to come into the Afghan Local Police program.  So I would -- I would say the percentage is very, very low due to the stringent vetting process and also our vetting processes.

Over.

MR. TURNER:  Okay.  Gentlemen, with that, General, Colonel, I'll turn it back to you for any closing remarks you would like to make.

GEN. FRITZ:  Well, I -- from my point of view, I would like to say the year 2010, last year, was a good and successful year for us, although we have lost soldiers from so many nations and I deeply regret this, and all my condolences always are with the families and with the friends of them.  But it was -- on the bottom line, it was a successful year, as we have tried to describe in this interview.

And my second point is, I really hope and pray that all the soldiers come home safe and sound after the operations.  And I would like to say thank you for the support we're getting from you.  I will never forget -- it was on Christmastime, we get lots of letters from Germany, and even for us Germans there were letters from a class in New Jersey, written by the children there, and they thanked us for the good job we are doing here.  And my special thanks -- I'm not sure whether he can -- she can hear me -- goes to Lorene.  She wrote me a letter, she said doing well and thank you very much for what we are doing.  

So thank you for all your support.  And please be reassured we try our best, and in the end we will succeed.

Thank you very much indeed.

MR. TURNER:  All right.  Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Task Force Bastogne and 1st Brigade Combat Team Commander to Brief Live From Afghanistan

Army Col. Andrew Poppas, commander of Task Force Bastogne and 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, will brief the media live from Forward Operating Base Fenty, Nangahar Province, Afghanistan, at 10:30 a.m. EST, Jan. 5, in the Pentagon Briefing Room (2E973) to provide an update on current operations.

Journalists without a Pentagon building pass will be picked up at the River Entrance only.  Plan to arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to the event; have proof of affiliation and two forms of photo identification.  Please call 703-697-5131 for escort into the building.

Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill, Detain Insurgents

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2011 – Afghan and coalition forces killed numerous insurgents and detained several others in operations yesterday throughout Afghanistan, military officials reported.

Security forces in Kunduz province’s Imam Sahib district killed numerous armed insurgents and detained several suspected militants. Afghan and coalition troops were searching for a Taliban district leader responsible for weapons trafficking, kidnappings and recruiting insurgents. Several armed insurgents were killed after opening fire on the approaching security force. Troops came under attack again during their search through the compound. Two more insurgents were killed during the second attack. Several suspected insurgents were taken into custody for additional questioning.

In other operations yesterday:

-- Afghan forces killed two armed insurgents who attacked an Afghan-coalition patrol in Ghazni province’s Andar district. Security forces spotted the two insurgents planting roadside bombs yesterday morning. Afghan forces tracked the insurgents to a nearby mosque and killed them. Afghan troops found two assault rifles, a pistol and several bombs in the dead militants’ possession.

-- Security forces in Khost province’s Sabari district detained several suspected insurgents in an operation to take down a Haqqani network leader. The leader is responsible for trafficking weapons and explosive devices to militants throughout the province.

-- Afghan and coalition forces captured a Taliban leader and two of his associates in Nangahar province’s Sherzad district. The Taliban leader is responsible for assassinating local villagers who cooperate with security forces. Tips for local residents led troops to the Taliban leader’s location.

-- Afghan and coalition forces detained an alleged Taliban leader Zabul province’s Shah Joy district. The suspect reportedly is connected to a recent attack that wounded four Afghan civilians in the area. He is also responsible for killing a member of the local peace council. Two other suspects also were detained.

-- Security forces captured a Taliban leader in Wardak province responsible for planning and carrying out attacks on Afghan and coalition troops in the province’s Sayyidabad district.

-- Afghan and coalition forces destroyed a Taliban bomb factory in Kunduz province. Security forces identified five buildings in the area that contained bomb-making materials, artillery rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and homemade explosives. Security forces cleared the area of innocent civilians before requesting the air strike, which destroyed the facility.

Teamwork, Reintegration Weaken Taliban in Northern Afghanistan

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2011 – Cooperation among troops from many nations and the reintegration into Afghan society of a growing number of war-weary insurgents are adding to success in northern Afghanistan, the commander of Regional Command North said today.

German army Maj. Gen. Hans-Werner Fritz and his deputy commander, U.S. Army Col. Sean Mulholland, briefed reporters at the Pentagon during a video teleconference from their headquarters in Mazar-e-Sharif.

“I think the influence of the Taliban is diminishing, definitely,” Fritz said.

“They are leaving the area. If they don't leave, they are killed. They are handing themselves over to us … by the reintegration program. So they are simply giving up,” he added, noting that the “security bubble” around Kunduz and Baghlan provinces and further west is permanently expanding.

The 11,000 troops of Regional Command North include Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Hungarians and Turks. U.S. forces are based in the area as part of the Afghan army and police training effort. The regional command is using special operations forces in shaping operations before conventional troops enter the area, Mulholland said, “and we've had great success winning the hearts and minds of civilians once the conventional forces have gone in.”

“We've been able to hold large expanses of terrain and also build COPs -- combat outposts -- and [forward operating bases] to secure and anchor those areas that have been gained through the winter time,” he added.

As an adjunct to that, Mulholland said, the Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Program has taken off in Regional Command North as people have decided to side with the Afghan government or simply don’t want to fight any more.

The reconciliation program is one of two the regional command offers, Fritz said. The other is the Afghan Local Police program.

“The reconciliation program allows them, after they've been forgiven [by their communities] and enrolled in the program, the opportunity for vocational training,” Mulholland said. “While they're going to training, they receive a stipend of $88 a month to keep food on the table.”

When applicants sign into the reconciliation program, Mulholland said, they are vetted by the local police and the provincial chief of police and are forgiven by the people from their village. The program allows them to learn one of several vocations, such as teaching. It also allows them, if they meet legal requirements, to join the Afghan Local Police.

“The ALP is actually a job,” Mulholland said. “It’s a program they can stay enrolled in for two to five years.”

Both programs, he added, “are good alternatives to what they're doing now.”

All applicants for both programs must register, must agree to live by the Afghan constitution and Afghan law, and must accept the Afghan government’s authority.

The regional command monitors an area that has experienced a growth in Taliban activity along with an increase in combat troops. The U.S. Army’s 4th Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas, and the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team from Fort Drum, N.Y., Fritz said, serve in the area along with two German battle groups.

An example of the close working relationships among the diverse troops occurred in October, Fritz said, during a day of fierce fighting.

“A suicider attacked a German position -- these were paratroopers from my division in Germany,” he said. The suicide attacker killed one German soldier and wounded many more. The troops called for medical evacuation, and two U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., answered the call.

“As we say in German, there was a lot of iron in the air,” Fritz said.

The helicopters recovered the wounded and took off, he said, then the crews realized a dead German soldier remained on the ground.

“They came back under fire, they recovered the soldier and they said, ‘We are taking home a fallen hero,” Fritz said. “And I can promise you, the German paratroopers, the German ‘Fallschirmjager,’ will never forget that. This is the quality of cooperation we are talking about.”

Fritz said his regional command has momentum against the Taliban and aims to keep it.

“If we can,” he added, “we will fight the winter through to make sure that all the foxholes are closed when one or the other of the Taliban might come back in, in spring.”

Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Cpl. Jacob A. Tate, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, died Jan. 2 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

For additional background information on this Marine, news media representatives may contact the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at 910-378-5920 or http://www.marines.mil/unit/2ndmardiv/Pages/Media/default.aspx.

Facilities transfer marks continued progress

By Army 1st Lt. Nathan Lavy

103rd Sustainment Command

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq (01/03/11) - Representatives from the Government of Iraq and the Iraqi Air Force met with leaders from the 224th Special Troops Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), to turn over several facilities to the GoI Dec. 23 at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq.

The 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) includes National Guard members.

Following the historical Iraqi Air Force’s Squadron 70 stand-up ceremony Nov. 23 at Ali Base, Iraq (COB Adder), this document-signing and facilities-transfer ceremony represented another step forward in the U.S. Army’s partnership with the Iraqi Air Force.

Army Lt. Col. Nicole Balliet, COB Adder garrison commander with the 224th STB, met with Brig. Gen. Hakeem Aboud, commander of Ali Air Base and Mr. Hassan Hammoudeh, GoI commander of logistics.

“Today is a great day; it is an honor and a privilege to be part of such an historic event,” Balliet said. “Today we turn over facilities of Ali Base to our Iraqi partners. This signifies the continued transfer of authority to the Government of Iraq. We look forward to our continued partnership with the Iraqi Air Force.”

After Balliet spoke to all those in attendance, Aboud delivered his words of appreciation to the U.S. Forces and spoke to the significance of the signing and facilities-transfer.

“Today is a very important day for our Air Force,” he said. “Today we’ll receive eight buildings.  In the near future we’ll receive more buildings. We hope to work together to succeed in our mission. Our mission is not only to fight terrorists. I’d like to thank all U.S. Forces for their help from the beginning.”

Other event special guests included Col. Hashem Hassan, commander of logistics at Ali Base; Col. Nazeh Al Fahed, commander of Squadron 70 at Ali Base; members of the U.S. Air Force and the Army.