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Local officials likely aided enemy, report says

The district police chief and district governor likely were colluding with the enemy that launched the brazen July 13 attack that killed nine soldiers at Vehicle Patrol Base Kahler and Observation Post Top Side in Wanat, Afghanistan, according to an investigation by U.S. officials.

“Post-attack intelligence indicates that both … were complicit in supporting the [anti-Afghan forces] attack,” according to the AR 15-6 investigation, conducted by a colonel whose name was redacted from the report. “The district governor and chief of police need to be replaced as a minimum, if not arrested and tried for committing crimes against the [government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan].”

In addition, the investigating officer calls for the Afghan police in the area to be vetted or replaced.

However, U.S. commanders do not install or remove government officials, said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, spokeswoman for Combined Joint Task Force-101.

The task force, led by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, oversees operations across the eastern portion of Afghanistan.

“The recommendation by the investigating officer to the commander, CJTF-101, is just that, a recommendation,” Nielson-Green wrote in an e-mail to Army Times. “We work closely with provincial governors on such issues and make recommendations.”

In this case, according to Nielson-Green, the governor of Nuristan was removed shortly after the battle. After a gap in filling the position, the man chosen as the replacement was killed in an auto accident, Nielson-Green said.

“There currently isn’t a provincial governor as the Afghan government seeks a suitable replacement,” she wrote. “Both previous governors were informed of our concerns about the district governor of Waygul.”

The police chief in Wanat remains in his position, Nielson-Green said. Most of the auxiliary police that were working for him have been fired, but Nielson-Green said she couldn’t say if their removals were related to the July 13 battle.

Schloesser and Col. John Spiszer, the current task force commander — the unit involved in the Wanat battle, the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, was relieved in August by 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division — continue to evaluate the situation in and around Wanat, Nielson-Green said.

“We conduct a variety of operations in and around that area regularly,” she said. “Violence in this particular province is localized to this area, but effective governance, relative security and development projects have and are creating very positive effects where most of the population resides in the Konar area.”