Afghan officials are reporting that US and Afghan troops launched a “joint operation” in the Helmand Province which involved the mass detention of provincial police that they suspected of aiding the Taliban in the region.
Officials say that 30 Afghan police were captured in the operation, and one was killed by troops raiding the Sangin District, an area which has been repeatedly contested between the Taliban and the Afghan military.
The police were reportedly suspected of planning to surrender to the Taliban next time they came along. The interim district police chief was among those captured. The district’s actual police chief was wounded in some previous incident, and officials weren’t clear if they intended to capture him as well.
The Afghan government confirmed it was a joint operation involving US troops, but the Pentagon refused to comment on the matter, and declined to confirm any details about what they were actually doing during the crackdown.
Another incident where the USG’s policy toward the American people of “you can’t handle the truth (“as we see it”).