Combined forces of the U.S. military and Afghan police raided a Taliban stronghold in Kandahar on May 22 in an operation said to be preview of a wider summer campaign to clear out insurgents and usher in reconstruction projects in the province, the LA Times reports. Civilian teams accompanied the troops as they searched homes and offered reconstruction aid to residents.
It is the first operation in Afghanistan that included civilian aid workers and reconstruction teams in the planning and execution stages, U.S. officials said.
U.S. soldiers did not enter any of the homes in the district, LA Times says. Afghan police officers conducted the search, while male policemen questioned residents and confiscated guns from men who failed to produce permits. Meanwhile, aid workers met with village elders to discuss aid and reconstruction projects as well as security.
