Lt. Col Martin O’Donnell, spox for the US and the US/Afghan forces, has another lengthy and complex quote about Ghazni city:
"Ghazni City remains under Afghan government control. No reported enemy activity has occurred thus far today...”
"Ghazni City remains under Afghan government control. No reported enemy activity has occurred thus far today...”
2/ “The Afghan National Army's 203rd Corps, the Afghan National Police's 303rd Zone and Afghan Special Security Forces continue to conduct clearing operations to root out remnants of the Taliban within the city...”
3/ “What we observed as these Afghan-led operations drove a large portion of Taliban from the city over the last day or so, was the retreating Taliban attacking the more vulnerable surrounding districts, which Afghan forces are reinforcing...”
4/ “That said, some Taliban forces remain in the city. These insurgent forces do not pose a threat to the city's collapse. However, the Taliban who have hidden themselves amongst the Afghan populace do pose a threat to the civilian population, who were terrorized and harassed...”
5/ “The Taliban, who falsely and repeatedly claim that they do not target civilians, have executed innocents, destroyed homes, burned a market and created the conditions for a potential humanitarian crisis with this attack...”
6/ “Clearly the Taliban have paid no heed to the calls of the Afghan people for them to reconcile and join the peace process...”
7/ “In terms of Resolute Support assistance to the Afghan-led clearance operation, Task Force-Southeast, U.S. Special Forces and 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade advisors are providing advice on things such as clearance operations and combined-arms integration...”
8/ “From a U.S. Forces-Afghanistan perspective, U.S. airpower has killed more than 220 Taliban since, August 10. In addition to the initial strike on Friday, U.S. forces conducted five strikes Saturday, 16 strikes Sunday, 10 Monday and none thus far today...”
9/ “Also, AH-64s from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Combat Aviation Brigade provided close-air support on Friday, Sunday and Monday."
10/ over to you, @cjchivers @AlexHortonTX @DefenseBaron @MarthaRaddatz @barbarastarrcnn @rabrowne75 @npwcnn @AdamWeinstein et al
