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English: The Afghan Territorial Force 444 rescued eight Afghan military and government prisoners from a Taliban compound, and seized a multitude of weapons and ammunition during a night helicopter raid in the Nahr-e-Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 23, 2018.

This is the fifth significant prison rescue in the past three months, with four of the five prison rescues taking place in Helmand province alone. Commandos freed more than 15 Afghan family members of Afghan Army and police during a night raid in southern Helmand province, Nov. 19. On Jan. 1, Afghan forces assaulted a Taliban “Red Unit” compound in Nahr-e-Saraj district that liberated five Afghans, and destroyed over 1,000 kg of hashish, denying the Taliban $3.4 million of illegal drug trafficking revenue. More recently, ASSF set free 13 Afghans from a prison basement in Now Zad district center, Jan. 18. Desperate Taliban leaders have expanded their criminal activities, such as imprisoning fellow Afghans for ransom money, as they continue to lose significant income streams due to Afghan and Coalition attacks on their narcotics production and distribution operations.

ATF 444 is one of three high-performing Afghan National Mission Units that support high-risk arrests, counter terrorism and counter narcotic missions within the Ministry of Interior. ATF 444 is under the command and control of the General Command of Police Special Units, which is a major directorate in MOI for security in Afghanistan.

As part of the Afghan 2020 Road map, GCPSU is expected to grow and add three new National Mission Units that will be strategically located in Jalalabad, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif provinces. The Road Map is Afghanistan’s plan for “investing in what works”, by doubling the Afghan Special Security Forces, such as the NMUs.