Operation OQAB in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan the ISAF has launched Operation OQAB (Eagle). A NATO spokesman told a press briefing on 18 October that,

It is a security plan to conduct security operations in all regions across Afghanistan. It will be the first ever country-wide joint Afghan national security forces, and ISAF operation together. I will not obviously give operational details, but it is an Afghan-led operation, Afghan National Police will be fully integrated into it and ISAF units will act in support of Afghan national security forces.
The purpose of this integrated security operation is to allow and encourage reconstruction and development to take place across Afghanistan.
And I think that's what I need to know. It will take place throughout the winter months that are coming.

The early results of OQAB are just becoming clear. Battles have been taking between the Afghan/ISAF forces and the Taliban in Zabul(or Zabol) and in Uruzgan (Oruzgan) provinces. In Zabul, in south east Afghanistan bordering on Balochistan, 55 bandits have been killed and some 20 wounded for the loss of one ISAF soldier. In Uruzgan, on Zabul's western border, the latest score is that the Afghan/ISAF is 70 without loss.


Click on map to enlarge.

Press reports: Washington Post, and an even more than usually negative Guardian.

Tags: Afghanistan, OQAB