US commander appreciates local cooperation

A top US commander stationed at Bamyan and Panjshir regions Wednesday appreciated the cooperative approach of local population towards American and NATO forces.

“We have a lot of cooperation and a lot of support from those local communities,” Col Scott Spellmon, Commander of Task Force Warrior, told Pentagon reporters over teleconference from Afghanistan.

Colonel Spellmon has been commanding his unit in Afghanistan since June of last year, and this was his first briefing to the Pentagon press corps.

“When you go and talk to the elders and the individuals . takes one of those insurgent leaders away, the people are incredibly thankful. The common theme that we hear is, thank you; the thugs are gone; we are ready to move forward in our community,” he said.

“So that is the general reaction that we do receive, because they know. The people understand that with improved security around their homes that more development opportunities will come. And we’re showing that each and every day,” he said.

Praising Governors of Bamyan and Panjshir, he said: “I will tell you that it’s been a privilege and an honor to work with Governor Sarabi in Bamyan and Governor Bahluol in Panjshir. Both of them are tireless public servants that are working very, very aggressively to meet the needs of the people. Governor Abubaker and Governor Taqwa have been equally strong partners with us as we work to address the security and development challenges in both Kapisa and Parvan.”

Having worked with Afghan forces, he said: “We’ve worked with Afghan kandaks that were completely capable of conducting independent operations with minimal support from the coalition. We’ve also worked with other Afghan battalions that might have needed a little bit of additional assistance, whether in terms of fires or command and control.”

He said the Governors want them to increase their ability for economic development and economic opportunity, for the people, but also connect the people to the government.