U.S. commanders plan to increase the number of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in eastern Afghanistan after Taliban forces launched a large-scale attack against an Afghan security outpost this week, the top U.S. commander in the region said yesterday.
Army Maj. Gen John Campbell, Regional Command-East chief, said service officials were still looking into yesterday’s assault on an Afghan police outpost in Nuristan province, near the Pakistan border. Recent news reports stated that up to 400 insurgents descended onto the Afghan National Police (ANP) station earlier this week, engaging police and government forces at the station.
The ANP forces rebuffed the attack and the position still remains in Afghan control, according to Campbell.
While the two-star general said it was doubtful that the Taliban could amass such a large number of fighters for any operation–much less one designed to overrun a single ANP installation–he was moving a number of the command’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into the area.
The UAV’s main mission would be to provide full-motion video and other potential pieces of intelligence, on enemy movements in that part of the region, Campbell told reporters during yesterday’s briefing at the Pentagon. He did not go into detail as to what specific UAV or ISR platforms would be fielded.
Campbell’s tour as RC-East chief is set to wrap up this month. Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn is set to take command of RC-East by end of May.
The recent assault on the ANP post in Nuristan runs counter to the types of single, spectacular attacks that a number of senior military officials believe will be the hallmark of insurgent activity in the upcoming spring fighting season.
“He has learned on the battlefield that he cannot fight us, he cannot fight the coalition…that is not a successful strategy. So I think he will come back with an attempt to murder and intimidate” via these types of spectacular attacks, outgoing RC-Southwest commander Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said last week during a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington.
While American regional commanders believe that insurgents’ tactics will change, the actual number of insurgent attacks against coalition forces has not increased, according to Campbell.
The operational tempo for U.S. troops in the area has remained high, even during the traditional lull in combat operations during the fall and winter months in Afghanistan, he said. The number of weapons caches including materials used to construct improvised explosive devices captured by American forces in RC-East doubled compared to last year, according to Campbell.
American forces are still averaging 25 to 30 engagements with Taliban forces and elements of the Haqqani terrorist syndicate, which is based largely in South Waziristan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Of the 4,000 insurgents killed or captured in RC-East, the majority of those fighters were allied with the Haqqani network, according to Campbell.
That said, the RC-East chief does not anticipate an increase in the operational tempo of his forces this spring, adding that the recent death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has not resulted in any uptick in insurgent activity in the area.
For their part, command officials have been focused on force realignment efforts, adjusting coalition and Afghan troop levels across several areas within the command, according to Campbell. U.S. and coalition leaders have been working closely with their counterparts in the Afghan National Security Forces in “getting the inputs right” regarding the footprint of allied forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Part of that force realignment included moving American troops from the violent Pech River valley. Campbell pointed out that the U.S. forces were not abandoning the Pech, but simply moving more men and resources to other, more volatile areas in the command’s area of operation.
These shifts within RC-East, he added, will position American and allied troops in various strategic areas, allowing combat commanders to “air assault at will” against Taliban-controlled regions.