During the past two months the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), particularly the Afghan National Army (ANA), mentored by Australia’s Mentoring Task Force – Three, has uncovered significant insurgent weapon caches in Uruzgan Province.
This includes close to 13,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, nearly 70 anti-personnel mines and almost half a tonne of chemicals used to make explosives.
The discovery and removal of these caches demonstrates the enhanced capabilities of the ANA in Uruzgan Province.
The senior Australian Officer in the province, Colonel Ben James, Deputy Commander Combined Team Uruzgan, said that many of these operations were planned and executed by the ANSF and were directly linked with intelligence received from the local community.
“We are seeing an increase in security operations that are led by the ANSF, particularly by the ANA 4th Brigade that Australian forces are mentoring,” Colonel James said.
“Afghan security forces in Uruzgan are now planning, executing and reviewing their own operations and you can see their confidence growing day by day as they execute those operations as well,” Colonel James said.
Removing these weapons, ammunition and explosives from the Uruzgan will help make the area and surrounding provinces safer for Afghan civilians, the ANSF, Australian and international forces.
Please note imagery for the MTF - 3 activities is available at the following link:
http://images.defence.gov.au/fotoweb/Grid.fwx?archiveId=5003&search=11122082
Media contact: Defence Media Operations (02) 6127 1999
Issued by Ministerial and Executive Coordination and Communication,
Department of Defence,
Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999 Fax: 02 6265 6946
