KABUL, Afghanistan — Tens of thousands of Afghan and NATO troops killed or captured 200 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan during two operations that targeted the violent Haqqani network that is blamed for the majority of attacks in Kabul, the U.S.-led coalition said Monday.
The operations began Oct. 12 and ended Thursday.
At least 20 of the insurgents had ties to the Haqqani group, which is affiliated with al-Qaida and the Taliban, said German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a coalition spokesman in Afghanistan. The roughly 180 others were from the Taliban or other groups, though not all have been identified.
About half of the Haqqani fighters were identified as leaders and the other half were bomb makers or individuals who help militants in various ways, such as distributing weapons and supplies, running safe houses or preparing areas for attack.
“Removal of the midlevel cell leaders with their expertise and leadership has significantly disrupted insurgent operations and degrades the Haqqani network’s ability to coordinate and execute future attacks against combined team forces and the people of Afghanistan,” Jacobson said.
Afghan and coalition forces have made gains in southern Afghanistan in the past two years, routing insurgents from their strongholds. They are now trying to hold that territory in the south while shifting resources to deal with insurgent hot spots in the east.
The Haqqani network is based in Pakistan but operates primarily in Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces along Afghanistan’s eastern border. U.S. and Afghan officials have demanded that Pakistan do more to eliminate militant sanctuaries on its side of the border.
The Haqqanis aim to have maximum control over eastern Afghanistan and access to Kabul from the south, Jacobson said, adding that they are “a family clan, a criminal patronage network and a terrorist organization.”
“For work on the other side we need help from Pakistan.”
Roughly 25,000 Afghan soldiers and policemen and 11,000 coalition troops were involved in the operations, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the coalition in Kabul. More than 880 pounds of explosives, weapons, munitions and computers were seized.
More than 400 hours of close-air support and thousands of hours of surveillance missions were flown in support of the operations, he said. The majority of the operations were conducted in Kabul province, Wardak, Logar and Ghazni provinces south and west of the capital and Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces along the border.
Although the two operations have ended, the coalition is continuing its fight against the Haqqani network. The coalition estimates there are fewer than 5,000 Haqqani militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a NATO intelligence analyst who disclosed the figure on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, NATO reported that a heavily armed group of Haqqani fighters was the target of an airstrike in Wuza Jadran district of Paktia province and several insurgents were killed, but did not specify how many.
While NATO presses ahead with its campaigns, several hundred people including students demonstrated at Kabul University against a strategic security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Afghan officials. Many Afghans think such an agreement would give American forces a long-term presence in Afghanistan.
The U.S, which has said it is not seeking permanent bases in Afghanistan, is negotiating details of the plan, which would govern the American troop presence in the country after the international forces’ combat mission ends in 2014.
Separately, the coalition reported that a NATO service member died Monday in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan. No other details were released.
So far this year, 478 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan.
On Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office sought to distance him from contentious remarks in a weekend television interview in which he asserted that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in a war against the United States.
“The media misinterpreted [Karzai’s] speech,” Siamak Herawi, a Karzai spokesman, said, adding that the president had been trying to express solidarity with Pakistan for having taken in millions of Afghan refugees during decades of war and the rule of the Taliban movement.
In response to a question from the Pakistani reporter about whether Afghanistan would support Islamabad in the event of a conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Karzai initially responded “God forbid,” but then went on to pledge his country’s backing for its neighbor.
“If a war ever breaks [out] between Pakistan and America, we will side [with] Pakistan,” the president said, according to the transcript. “Afghanistan would stand with you. Afghanistan is your brother.”
Christopher Chambers, a spokesman for NATO’s civilian representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul on Monday that it was important to “focus on the much wider dialogue that is required for peace for both Afghanistan and Pakistan ... which the people of both countries certainly want and deserve.”
Information for this article was contributed from Kabul by Deb Riechmann, Tarek El-Tablawy, Amir Shah and Massieh Aryan of The Associated Press; and by Laura King of the Los Angeles Times.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/25/2011