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The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle. The battle happened on October 3, 2009 at Keating, an American combat outpost, near the Kamdesh town in Nuristan province. Nuristan province of Afghanistan is located in the eastern part of the country and is largely inhabited by the Nuristan communities. They exist in four major groups, but are largely subdivided on the basis of religion, clans, and personal beliefs. It is a population of hostile people who vigorously resist foreign aggression and so would not tolerate America’s presence in their land. Their involvement in the attack of the Keating command post was inevitable and must have provided a lot of support, logistics, planning, fire power and command (Kelly, 2011). The insurgents had arrived in the neighboring villages of the camp deep in the night and started grouping together with the Nuristan militia men. Their first step involved evicting the civilians in the village on an impending attack on the Keating combat outpost. Following analysis showed that the villagers might not have moved out of the area during the attack. The attack started at dawn when the insurgent... ... middle of paper ... ...mp were awarded medals of Honor. The Battle of Kamdesh was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. References Books, L. (2010). Battles of the War in Afghanistan by Country. Washington: LLC Books. Retrieved November 05, 2010, from books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=1158057407 Kelly, D. M. (2011). The Kunar Adt and the Afghan Coin Fight. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. Retrieved November 05, 2010, from books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=1456753045 Tapper, J. (2012). The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. New York: Little, Brown. Retrieved November 05, 2010, from books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=0316215856 Weiss, M., & Maurer, K. (2012). No, Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan. New York: Penguin Group US. Retrieved November 05, 2010, from books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=1101560762
The war in Afghanistan sparked numerous operations conducted by the U.S. military and its coalition forces. One of the most influential operation until today was Operation Anaconda. Fought in the Shahi-Kot Valley during early march 2002, it was the largest American battle since the Gulf War, and their first high altitude battle ever encounter. The goal of the Operation Anaconda was to eradicate the remaining Taliban and al Qaeda foothold within the eastern region of Afghanistan. Although, originally intended to last three days, Operation Anaconda lasted seventeen days instead, with seven days of intense battle. The U.S. operation Commander, Major General Franklin Hagenbeck, schemed the “hammer and anvil” plan in order to achieve his objective. However, this plan
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border. Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington; dubbed the CIA’s “finest hour,” it signified the first of many victories by deposing the Taliban’s control of Northern Afghanistan.
The novel Prince of Afghanistan by Louis Nowra (2015) explores two Australian soldiers, Casey and Mark who are involved in a mission to rescue hostages captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, due to the unfortunate death of Casey, being killed by a Taliban rocket, his dog, Prince is left behind with no carer, other than Mark. With the brutality of war, and the race against hunger, danger and time, they both must rely on each other for survival. As the story reflects upon Australians engagement with Asia, it conveys themes of friendship, trust and the nature of courage and heroism through the character, character development and the relationship among each other.
The book Outlaw Platoon written by Sean Parnell is a soldiers’ tale of his platoon in one of the most dangerous places on earth. This book is a non-fiction riveting work that tells the story of a platoon that spent sixteen months on an operating base in the Bermel Valley, the border of Pakistan. This mission the men were sent on was part of a mission called Operation Enduring Freedom. This book is extremely relevant to the war that we are still fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian work that continues. We still have men in this area fighting and losing their lives everyday. It is the focus of ongoing political debates and the purpose of our involvement there is an ongoing question in the minds of many Americans. In writing this book, Parnell makes it clear in his author’s notes that he indeed was not trying to pursue one political agenda over another. His goal as not to speak of all members of the platoon and expose their identities and the types of soldiers they were but instead to showcase some of the men’s bravery and abilities during the war. Parnell believed that he owed it to the men to write something that would show the world what these men go through during combat in an honest and raw account. Another purpose of Parnell’s in writing this book is an attempt at making sure these men are given a place in American war history.
September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.” The US immediately sent SOF units and CIA officers to recon the area and meet with the Northern Alliance. The primary battle leading up to this operation was Tora Bora, which was absent of conventional forces. Up until this point, the war on terror was predominantly a Special Operations fight along with Air Force for overhead support.3 SOF and the Northern Alliance had already displaced Taliban forces out of many towns and villages in northern Afghanistan to gain control of key terrain. Key towns in northern Afghanistan including Taloqan, Konduz, Herat, and Mazar-e Sharif took only three weeks to clear.4 The SOF units were making huge impacts across the country calling in air strikes. At the same time the SOF units were diligently...
In this paper, I will provide a Battle Analysis and outline the events leading up to and surrounding the Battle of 73 Eastings (refers to a north-south grid line). In addition, I will describe how the United States Army’s (USA) 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment (ACR) defeated forces from the Iraqi Republican Guard (IRG) using speed, technology and superior combat power. Although some consider the Battle of 73 Eastings extremely successful, some consider it a failure due to the large amount of Iraqi forces that retreated towards Bagdad. Lastly, I will analyze how each side used their intelligence assets and what they could have used to change the outcome.
In the month of April 2004, in the city of Habbaniyah, Iraq, a brutal and terrible act took place which ignited one of the bloodiest battles in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Four Black Water security members were killed and publicly maimed. The resulting battle left a high casualty rate as well as hundreds of American service members being wounded. This is the story of the events that took place after the events in the city of Habbaniyah. On the 31st of March, 2004, a convoy was attacked.
On July 13, 2008, Taliban fighters launched a major assault on a small U.S. Army outpost in Afghanistan, killing nine soldiers and wounding 27. The story of Wanat is more then just one small group of commanders’ mistakes; it is a window into how the war in Afghanistan went awry and how we can learn from these mistakes to better future missions and future leaders.
Afghanistan has had a history, full of violence and wars since the last 176 years, from being invaded by the British in 1838 to the soviet Russians in 1979, but those long wars have left the once prosperous and wealthy country, into a country torn apart into shreds (BBC News). The future of Afghanistan will be highly unstable due to its high levels of poverty, which is a major factor on the outcome of the country’s future. Wars are great contributors to high poverty levels and it is reported that “20 million out of the 26 million people in the country, are living under the line of poverty” (Rural poverty Portal), that is about 75% of the country’s population. When 75% of the country population is living under the harsh living conditions and poverty, it leaves the country’s economy running on fumes. The high level of poverty also leaves most of the country in a survival mi...
Taylor, Alan. “Afghanistan: October 2011.” The Atlantic. N. p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
"Soviet invasion of Afghanistan." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
McMahon, Robert. "The Purpose of the Afghan War." 21 September 2009. The Council on Foreign Relations. 26 October 2011 .
An iron fisted dictator that used internal security forces to maintain his grip on power by suppressing any and all dissent was replaced by a weak and corrupt pro-American government. The new government lacked any real form of legitimacy and violence in the country intensified as armed Shia and Sunni extremist groups and militias battled each other and NATO security forces across the country.[11] Terrorists attacks such as car bombings and attacks by armed gunmen increased, and many pundits and think tanks started to question the Coalition’s ability to properly run the occupation. The situation in Afghanistan was not much better. In 2001, when the United States invaded Afghanistan, most of the country was in the hands of the Taliban. There was a civil war going in the north, where an alliance of Tajik tribes along with a smaller number of Uzbeks opposed the Pashtun dominated Taliban. [12] The most populous regions of the country including the nation’s largest city, Kabul, were controlled by the Taliban who enforced Shariah Law and prevented women from getting an education. When our leaders spoke of our involvement in Afghanistan they spoke of human rights, democracy and access to education for all. But the situation in Afghanistan went from bad to worse as the initially defeated Taliban bounced back and took control of their traditional strongholds in the south. Following a
Lopez, Brendan CDT H-4 ’12. Assistance given to the author, verbal discussion. CDT Lopez edited my paper and gave me feedback on style and format. He recommended that I reword the intent behind the Soviet contributions to Afghan infrastructure. He also recommended that I discuss the lengths that the American government had gone to build cell towers in Afghanistan.
Jarvenpaa, M. (2013). Making Peace in Afghanistan: The Missing Political Strategy. United States Institute for Peace, Peace brief, 3-9.