US Led Mountain Thrust continues to roll up Taliban

Continuing their offensive operations in the South East of Afghanistan, Operation Moutain Thrust continues to crush the Taliban

afghanistan_mountain_thrust.jpgContinuing their offensive operations in the South East of Afghanistan, Operation Moutain Thrust continues to crush the Taliban as forty five more terrorists allied with al-qaida were killed. Details at Yahoo news. As an update to an earlier post please note that VOA had an article up regarding the capture of a high profile Al-Quaida operative active in the shia south. The VOA article appears to have now dropped reference to this incident, and a search on “sheik akeel” turns up some interesting links. I did find the original text of the article here.

To the south, in Karbala, local officials say U.S. troops have arrested the sheikh Akeel al-Zubaidi who heads Karbala’s provincial council, a mainly Shi’ite group. There has been no report on the incident by U.S. military officials.

In a further update to a previous post where I speculated on use of Alexander the Great’s strategy for Afghanistan, Bill Roggio reports of a major Taliban defection, it appears that things are moving in a very positive direction in the Southeast of Afghanistan.

On Friday, Mullah Ibrahim, described as a senior Taliban commander with great influence in the Panjwai and Zari districts, has publicly joined the Strengthening Peace program, and renounced the use of violence against civilians and the government. Mullah Ibrahim has fought with the Mujahideen and the Taliban for several decades, and boasts of his fighting prowess. “If I come to fight, no one would have have defeated me, just as I have not been defeated in the past,” said Ibrahim, “I want all Afghans to abandon fighting and unite.” His involvement with the Taliban since 2001 was sidestepped, but he indicated the Taliban has “coerced” Afghans to fight in their cause while in foreign countries, including Pakistan. As in all problems in Afghanistan, the origin invariably leads to Pakistan.

Crossposted at Argghhh!!!

UPDATE: US forces cut key Taliban route, details at Yahoo News.