GHAZNI PROVINCE – Intel reports shared between Polish and U.S. forces indicated that the village serves as a staging point for numerous insurgent attacks along Highway 1, the main highway in Afghanistan. “The integration of our respective liaisons working with each other’s HQ has allowed us to greatly advance our info sharing,” said Capt. Robert Kellum, intel officer. “By working together we've successfully located insurgents and their caches that we couldn't have found on our own.”
After the discovery of the caches and while en route to their home base, soldiers identified 2 insurgents moving on a motorcycle with a machine gun and an AK-47. They positively identified the 2 as threats, engaged them and killed both insurgents in a firefight.
The appearance of insurgents after the discovery of the IED factory gave CFs an indication of how important the cache was to area insurgents. “Today’s op was a thoroughly prepared action, which significantly weakened the potential rebels,” said Polish Lt. Col. Górowski, TF White Eagle’s Battle Group A cmdr. “It's very possible that the IEDs from this cache were used a few days ago to conduct an attack on my soldiers. The consistency in action and active cooperation with U.S. Soldiers from TF Iron gave measurable results.”
U.S. Soldiers echoed the comments. “This combined mission with the Polish near the seam of our respective areas of op was very successful,” said Capt. Trevor Saunders, EO of Co. C. “Continued cooperation between TF White Eagle and TF Iron Rakkasan will prevent the use of these seams as safe havens for insurgents. This op also paved the way for future combined ops with the Polish battle group.”
