U.S. Army: Taliban Set to ‘Come Back At Us Hard’

Afghan, coalition troops work to demolish hideouts, kill and detain militant leaders ahead of spring offensive

Sacks of opium, suicide jackets and explosives confiscated by Afghan security forces were displayed in Kandahar on Jan. 24, 2011. (Photo credit: Allauddin Khan / AP)

By Deb Riechmann

February 8, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Ten loud explosions that rocked Kandahar one day last week actually signaled good news on the front line of the war against the Taliban.

The blasts — one every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. — were from Afghan and coalition forces blowing up more than 6,000 pounds of Taliban AK-47s, bomb-making equipment, homemade explosives and rocket-propelled grenades.

Finding and destroying the insurgents’ weapons in Kandahar province, the ancestral home of President Hamid Karzai and the birthplace of the Taliban, is just one way Afghan and coalition forces are trying to make it difficult for the militants to launch a strong offensive in the spring.

“We are definitely expecting them to come back at us hard,” said Lt. Col. Victor Garcia, deputy commander of the 3,500-soldier 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division deployed in Kandahar province on one of the NATO coalition’s most critical missions. …

Last summer, after the 40,000 mostly U.S. reinforcements finished arriving in Afghanistan, coalition and Afghan forces launched bloody offensives to force insurgents from their strongholds. Casualties went up, making 2010 the deadliest year of the more than 9-year-old war. …

In the past three months, 1,250 Taliban weapons caches have been found in Afghanistan, according to NATO. That compares with 163 uncovered in the same period last year. …

Full story

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 8, 2010

Terrorist Political Football

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is seen in this undated handout, distributed by IntelCenter on December 28, 2009, and attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (Photo credit: IntelCenter — Handout / Reuters)

One year ago today, I reported that deputy national security adviser John Brennan told NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press” that politicians were using national security to score political points and that he was exasperated with partisan political football over counterterrorism professionals’ handling of failed airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — February 8, 2009

Electric Sacrifice in Iraq

The Pentagon is reviewing 18 deaths in conjunction with a contractor’s electrical work, including that of Staff Sgt. Christopher Everett, seen in the photograph next to his mother, Larraine McGee of Huntsville, Texas. (Photo credit: Susan Walsh / AP)

Two years ago today, on Feb. 8, 2009, I reported that defense contractor KBR Inc. had been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it was under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq.