More Taliban set backs
The American Forces Press Service reports today that Afghan and coalition forces captured 17 Taliban fighters yesterday.
The insurgents, now in coalition custody, had automatic rifles, Taliban-sponsored reading material and letters threatening Afghans not to cooperate with Afghan and coalition forces, according to CFCA officials.
“That the (insurgent forces) are forced to resort to threatening letters tells us they are afraid and incapable of operating in sight of Afghan citizens have to use violence and the threat of violence to coerce cooperation from Afghans,” said Army Brig. Gen. John Sterling, Combined Joint Task Force 76’s deputy commander.
“Afghans know that the government of Afghanistan has already made life here measurably better then it was under the oppressive rule of the Taliban and that each day brings the promise of a better, brighter, more secure future,” Sterling noted.
Elsewhere, two former Taliban commanders pledged their allegiance two the country’s government and handed over a cache of arms, described by the AFPS as large:
The weapons turn-in included more than 60 AK-47 assault rifles, dozens of bolt-action rifles, three Russian-manufactured machine guns, more than 35 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two mortar-launching systems with 75 mortar rounds, one recoilless rifle, one armored vehicle, several thousand rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition, two anti-aircraft guns and several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition of various calibers.
