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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan military leaders in Regional Command-East said the Sept. 18 Afghan parliamentary elections were conducted more peacefully than the Western media had anticipated.
The leaders credited better coordination among coalition forces and Afghan national security forces not only for the ineffectiveness of insurgent attacks, but also for the high voter turnout, which they saw as a sign the Afghan people are placing more confidence in the government.
“U.S. newspapers said today would be the most violent day in Afghan history, ever. I think they’re already wrong,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell, Combined Joint Task Force-101 commander, the unit that is the current battle space owner of RC-East, shortly after 10 a.m. Sept. 18.
Campbell was the highest-ranking U.S. officer to visit the Forward Operating Base Thunder, Paktya Province Operation Coordination Center-Regional.
Much like a disaster management center in the U.S., the OCCR unified all government and coalition forces agencies into a single team to respond to reports of violence, fraud and other problems.
The command center was a flurry of activity as calls with the latest developments came in from government agencies and civilians throughout five provinces in southeastern Afghanistan: Paktya, Paktika, Khowst, Logar and Ghazni.
As predicted, the morning brought a spike in insurgent activity after a relative lull. However, the attacks were limited to small arms fire, rocket attacks and improvised explosive devices; no reports of suicide bombs came in. Moreover, ANSF, working with some coalition support, quickly suppressed most of the attacks.
Most of the attacks fizzled out by late morning; however, a few continued. A group of about 150 insurgents continued to put up heavy resistance in Ajiristan District, Ghazni province, well into the afternoon, though the polls remained open. Insurgents also lobbed a grenade over a wall near the Muhammad Daud School polling center in Matun District, Khowst province, injuring three civilians.
Afghan National Army Maj. Gen. Abdul Khaliq, commander of the 203rd Thunder Corps, which conducts military operations in those provinces, credited the success to the post-Ramadan “cleaning” operations conducted Sept. 12 - 15, which were aimed at removing insurgents and inspiring public confidence. Khaliq said he believed the operations depleted their stockpiles of ammunition and made it difficult for insurgents to organize their operations.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael Kelley, the senior advisor at the OCCR at FOB Thunder, said, “There has been a significant decrease in violent acts compared to last election [the Aug. 20, 2009, presidential election] and it’s all due to the cooperation of all the entities in the ANSF and civilian entities, the ‘whole government approach’ to problems in Afghanistan.”
Insurgents also tried to undermine the election by producing at least 5,000 fraudulent ballots, said Kelley, a Newnan, Ga., resident. Many of these ballots have been recovered by ANSF; those ballots that remain are “obvious frauds,” and therefore are little threat to the process.
Kelley added that the dusty weather, which made it hazardous for aircraft to fly, was among the most serious impediments to the election. Weather-related logistical problems delayed the delivery of ballots to several districts in the region, but by afternoon, all of the nearly 700 polling areas were operational.
He added that the ANSF and coalition partners will continue to conduct operations until all of the ballots can be transported to Kabul, where they will be safe from insurgent tampering.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2010 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 56644 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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