3 al Qaeda trainers killed in Afghanistan

Bill Roggio:

US and Afghan forces have killed three al Qaeda operatives who served as embedded trainers for the Taliban in western Afghanistan.

The three al Qaeda operatives were killed along with with three Taliban fighters during a clash in the Gazara district in the western province of Herat, which up until two years ago was a relatively peaceful area.

"A joint operation of Afghan and NATO forces was kicked off in Gazara district since Monday to clean up the area from rebels and so far six militants including three Arabs have been eliminated," Abdul Basir Ghori, a spokesman for the Afghan military told Xinhua.

The three al Qaeda operatives “provided military training to Taliban insurgents in the area,” Xinhua reported, based on Ghori’s statement.

Al Qaeda operatives serving as embedded trainers to Taliban forces are occasionally killed during fighting in Afghanistan, even in the far-flung regions of western Afghanistan. In August 2008, al Qaeda leader Abu Gharib al Makki was killed during a clash with US and Afghan forces in Farah province. US intelligence officials later told The Long War Journal that Makki was one of several al Qaeda trainers detached to Taliban units in order to impart knowledge on explosives and military tactics to local Taliban forces.

The embedded al Qaeda fighters are members of al Qaeda’s paramilitary Shadow Army, or the Lashkar al Zil. The Shadow Army is the successor to al Qaeda’s notorious Brigade 055, the military formation that fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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There is more.

Recently the administration has been trying to downplay al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan in order to push the so called Biden strategy. This is some evidence of how misguided the strategy is.

After al Qaeda's defeat in Iraq, it pulled many of its fighters back into Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many were used to replace the Taliban's depleted leadership ranks. Others took over training. This is probably why the fighting has been expanding beyond the Pashtun south and east. The upsurge in Taliban fighting happened after the return of al Qaeda from its defeat in Iraq. I don't think it was a coincidence.