Afghanistan: Weapons discovered in Ghazni province

Kabul, Jan 19 (IANS) Afghan security forces have discovered a large amount of weapons and ammunition in the eastern Ghazni province, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.

The contrabands, which included various types of weapons, a large quantity of cartridges and bullets and other illegally preserved military equipment, have been seized during operations in different districts of the province over the past nine months, the statement said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Afghan caretaker government has rounded up thousands of arms and a huge quantity of ammunition as part of efforts to stabilize the security situation across the war-ravaged country.

The War in Afghanistan was a prolonged conflict lasting from 2001 to 2021. It began with the invasion by a U.S.-led coalition under the name Operation Enduring Freedom as a direct response to the September 11 attacks, toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later.

The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centres by US-led forces supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance; Osama bin Laden, meanwhile, relocated to neighbouring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the U.S., surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.

Following the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban immediately extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the U.S.; the Taliban refused to do so without evidence of Bin Laden’s involvement. After the expelling of the Taliban and their allies, the US-led coalition remained in Afghanistan, forming a security mission (ISAF)—sanctioned by the United Nations—with the goal of creating a new democratic authority in the country that would prevent the Taliban from returning to power. A new Afghan Interim Administration was established, and international rebuilding efforts were launched.

By 2003, the Taliban had reorganized under their founder, Mullah Omar, and began a widespread insurgency against the new Afghan government and coalition forces. Insurgents from the Taliban and other Islamist groups waged asymmetric warfare, fighting with guerrilla warfare in the countryside, suicide attacks against urban targets, and reprisals against perceived Afghan collaborators. By 2007, large parts of Afghanistan had been retaken by the Taliban.

In response, the coalition sent a major influx of troops for counter-insurgency operations, with a “clear and hold” strategy for villages and towns; this influx peaked in 2011 when roughly 140,000 foreign troops were operating under ISAF command across Afghanistan.

–IANS

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