BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan citizens are speaking up and making a difference in the mountaneous southern province of Zabul, July 11, as reports by local citizens led to the discovery and destruction of weapons and bomb-making materials in two districts in the province.
The first call came to U.S. Special Operations Forces operating in Zabul from a citizen in the Kulat district about a known location with bomb-making materials. Once the team arrived to investigate, they found 10 yellow jugs of homemade explosives weighing a total of 500 pounds. The explosives were destroyed at a secure location.
The second call was from the Shin Kay District governor, who assisted a USSOF team in finding a rocket-propelled grenade, 130 AK-47 rifle magazines, and improvised explosive device materials.
“I am sick of the insurgent fighters who come to Shin Kay, Nawbahar, and Atghar,” said Abdul Qadeem, the Shin Kay District Governor. Both Nawbahar and Atghar surround his district to the North and South.
After 17 pressure-plate IED attacks in Nawbahar and Atghar since March, the Shin Kay district governor has become more vocal and more insistent on halting the violence in and around his district.
“Abdul Qadeem is a determined governor,” said a USSOF team leader who works near Shin Kay District.
“Since some of these insurgents travel through Shin Kay, I take personal responsibility for the harm they are trying to do to my friends in ISAF,” said Qadeem in a meeting with a USSOF team.
Since March 2010, nine IEDs have been safely removed by Afghan and U.S. forces operating in the Shin Kay District reducing the potential for violence for the people in the district.
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