CENTCOM Reports

This week's CENTCOM Reports leads off with an account of the opening of the third Afghan National Army base in Herat.  Progress continues in the country in the wake of parliamentary elections on  September 19th.  U.N. worker Peter Erben said that six—million people voted in Sunday's parliamentary and district council elections, including large numbers of women.  Voter turnout was more than a million lower than in last year's presidential election, but Mr. Erben was pleased with the results overall.

Afghan Army garrison opens in Herat

By U.S. Army Sgt. Mason T. Lowery Office of Security Cooperation—Afghanistan Public Affairs

HERAT , Afghanistan — Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak cut the ribbon of the new Afghan National Army (ANA) garrison in Herat recently, opening its doors for use by the ANA's 207th Corps.

'Though this is the third ANA garrison to open, today is especially significant because this is the first garrison outside of Kabul to be opened,' said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. John Brennan, chief of the Office of Security Cooperation—Afghanistan, during the opening ceremony 'This event is even more significant because, of the 11 garrisons (being) built outside of Kabul, this garrison was the last to be started but today we celebrate it as the first permanent corps headquarters to open.'

Wardak spoke to the assembled ANA soldiers about their role in Afghanistan's unity and how they are a truly national army, representing all of their country's ethnic tribes.

'You might be from different provinces speaking different languages, but you're one nation and you represent one Afghanistan.  You all have one goal and objective, which is strengthening of the national unity.'

With the completion of the Herat Garrison, the engineers, construction companies and Afghan workers will next focus their efforts on completing brigade garrison complexes for the ANA's 209th and 203rd Corps in Mazar—e—Sharif and Gardez.

Citizen's tip leads combat engineers to weapons cache

TAJI, Iraq — Task Force Baghdad Soldiers found a weapons cache  while conducting offensive operations to disrupt anti—Iraqi forces activity north of Baghdad.

The Soldiers, from the 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division discovered the cache at 6:40 a.m. Sept. 21 after receiving a tip from an Iraqi citizen.

The cache consisted of one shotgun, one rifle, two bolt—action rifles, one 9 mm pistol, one mortar sighting device, one rocket—propelled grenade launcher sight, 12 rocket—propelled grenades, 20 60 mm mortar fuses, two grenades, an ammo belt of automatic rifle rounds, 275 AK—47 magazines and ammunition, and one machine gun mechanism.

The unit confiscated the equipment while a military explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the ammunition.

Failure to yield leads to capture of 8 terror suspects

TAJI, Iraq —— An Iraqi driver failing to yield the right—of—way to a U.S patrol led to the capture of eight terror suspects on the afternoon of Sept. 21.

After cutting off the patrol at a traffic intersection, the driver of the car turned around and fled.

The 2nd Battalion, 70th Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division patrol chased down the car and detained the five occupants in the vehicle.

When the Soldiers searched the car they found two assault rifles, two anti—aircraft missiles, a mortar tripod, and a bag of ammunition.

Task force Baghdad reports recent successes

BAGHDAD, Iraq —— Iraqi Army and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers discovered five large weapons caches hidden in and around Baghdad over during combined and independent operations Sept. 19—21.  Their efforts continued to disrupt terrorists' ability to attack Coalition forces and innocent civilians.

Together, the five caches consisted of 27 rockets and mortars, 20 mortar fuses, 14 rocket—propelled grenades with three launchers, and three hand grenades.

The Soldiers also found five AK—47 assault rifles, a machine gun, sniper rifles, 280 magazines, two pistols and more than a dozen boxes of ammunition. Anti—Coalition propaganda, fake license plates and blasting caps were also discovered in the caches.