Operation Anaconda was a success, but it was not without errors, and could have ended a number of ways. Numerous Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen were killed or gravely wounded due to several major miscalculations that could have been easily avoided. Some Commanders will eventually either ignore or undervalue critical intelligence during warfare and, unfortunately, that will not stop anytime soon. Also, the over-compartmentalization of intelligence can create problems for a mission. This paper details the critical role of evaluation and dissemination of intelligence in warfare. Operation Anaconda, the mission to remove Al Qaeda and Taliban forces from the Shahi-Kot valley, while appearing to be a success, should have been a much better performance …show more content…
The mission was to kill or capture Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot valley located between Khowst and Gardez in Eastern Afghanistan. The battle occurred between the 1st and 14th of March, 2002.
After the initial success of US Special Forces Detachments and the Northern Alliance fighters, the Taliban and Al Qaeda had all but left Afghanistan. Reports were coming from Afghan sources that the enemy fighters numbering anywhere between 800 – 1200, and possibly included Ayman Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man were in the Shahi-Kot valley. Taliban and Al Qaeda Forces, most of whom had fought the Russians during their time in Afghanistan, had taken refuge in the Shahi-Kot Valley, to maintain a foothold in Afghanistan. Coalition Forces were determined to remove them from the battlefield.
The valley is situated in an almost horseshoe shaped manner, with a break in the horseshoe on the North Western side of the valley. The western ridgeline is referred to as the “Whale”; a small out-cropping in the middle of the horseshoe on the Southern side is termed the “Finger”; and the valley between the finger and the whale is called the “Fishhook”. This part of Afghanistan has snow in March, especially at the elevations in this area, as the highest peak around the valley is over 10,000 feet, with the mean altitude being around 9,000
Kugler (2007) claimed that, “Operation Anaconda was an outgrowth of earlier events during the war in Afghanistan.” One of the main event he exposed in his case study, which according to him set the stage for Operation Anaconda, was the battle at Tora Bora. Located in in the mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan, Tora Bora was a caved complex, where U.S. authorities believed to be Osama Bin Laden safe haven. The plan were to use minimum U.S. troops and relied mostly local Afghan troops in order to secure the area and capture all High Value Targets (HVT). Dr. Kugler (2007) briefly explained that, the operation turned out to be a failure from the point of view of U.S. and coalition forces, since most HTVs including Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda leaders successfully escaped during the operation. The successful escape of these key leaders was in part due to the lack of necessary amount of troops needed to block all escape routes, and to the lack of experience from the local Afghan troops, the Pashtun militia. Chairman Kerry (2009) stated in his report to congress that, “the decision not to deploy American forces to go after bin Laden or block his escape was made by Secretary of
(U) Background: Over the course of United States history the Army has made changes to how it engages its foreign enemies. These tactics techniques and procedures are the result of lessons learned during conflict, mistakes made under fire, and the results of a nation at war. As a result the IPB process has changed to accommodate a dynamic and often fluid battlefield. However this has not changed the core concept behind IPB, the four steps still remain an integral part of the Commanders Military Decision Making Process (MDMP), and are essential in war gaming. IPB assist in providing valuable Intelligence to the War Fighter throughout all phases of operations. This paper will cover each step of the IPB Process as well as discuss products associated with each of those steps and how these products can be an asset to the Commander and the War Fighter.
In Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Iraqi forces fired 93 Scud missiles at coalition forces in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. (Rostker) Air Defense Artillery (ADA) played an immensely significant role in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm with units from 11th Brigade Air Defense Artillery and the 32d Air Defense Command rapidly deploying into theater. The effectiveness of the units and their roles in fighting this war proved that Air Defense Artillery was critical to the success of the campaign. Although Patriot Batteries placed strategically throughout Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel played a tremendous tactical role in these wars, High-Medium Air Defense (HIMAD) was not the only type of surface to air missile system in place to protect ground forces and valuable military assets. Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) units also deployed with the air defense units. These weapon systems, integrated with ground forces, provided air defense to dominate against aircraft and Tactical Ballistic Missiles (TBM) on the front lines.
The author detailed the many of the difficulties faced by the special operations forces in Afghanistan. They made significant gains with the Village Stability Operations and a major concern for them was losing ground. However, certain factors threatened those gains. In particular, the wars unpopularity at home and President Obama 2014 timetable to withdraw were major hurdles. The author explained that this complicated the efforts of the special operations forces because; a counterinsurgency strategy takes time to cultivate. Many military leaders fear that their efforts will not hold up in their absence. They believe the assistance of the United States is crucial to continued success in the war. The biggest obstacle to this effort was the relationship between American and Afghani Leadership. President Karzai insisted Afghan Special Forces accompany U.S. Special Forces on night raids. Military leaders were hesitant at first nevertheless, president Karzai insisted. In addition, he wanted Afghan approval for every mission launched. The author concludes that the real intention for accompanying the U....
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...
...ses of this operation the US and UK were operating independently trying to figure out their rescue mission while Afghan officials and tribal leaders were working alone trying to negotiate. I believe that the locals have a deep concrete culture where they are able to communicate with the enemy even though they do not agree on some things and see eye to eye on many subjects, they have been successful in the past with negotiations due to that that concrete cultural and history they have together.
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 battle I will be discussing is the battle of Tora Bora. The engagement took place in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan from December 12, 2001 to December 17, 2001. The units involved were from the CIA, numerous Special Forces groups, Pakistani soldiers and local anti-Taliban fighters. The mission given to the forces was to kill Osama bin Laden from the caves, leave the body with the Taliban and disrupt the Al Qaeda organization by removing their leader. The intent was to infiltrate the cave system, remove bin Laden and return home.
Intelligence failure was one of the main reasons why the Tet offensive happened. The allies undergo a failure of intelligence before Tet, a failure that helped plan the stages for changes in the strategies of the US. The four parts of intelligence are crucial in determining the actions of the enemy. The four tasks consist of collection of information, the analysis of the information, the decision to respond to a warning issued in the analytical stage, dissemination of the order to respond to the field co...
...h Muslim “clerics” (Ottaway) unaware of modern diplomacy and skeptical of the Western world, and they were unsuccessful in taking the advantage of cracks in the Taliban governance. A former CIA station chief said that the CIA did not hear anything the Taliban Representative said. The US Government wanted Osama Bin-Laden from them and they were asking for the help to give him up; two different tone of language- meaning it was hard for both representatives to understand each other’s wants and needs. The conferences took place in many different places like Kandahar, Islamabad, Tashkent, Bonn, Washington and New York. There were satellite conversations that took about 40-minute between State Department officials and the Taliban's top leader, Mohammad Omar. There was also a surprise visit to Washington, made by a Taliban representative giving a carpet to President Bush.
This paper will critically analyze Task Force Ranger (TFR) in Mogadishu, Somalia while supporting the United Nations Operations in Somalia. The lack of combined nations shared intelligence and proper course of action analysis lead to the military defeat of Task Force Ranger in Somalia. Battle analysis of the Battle of Mogadishu reveals that inaccurate intelligence played a decisive role in the battle and could of lead to alternative ending.
Since the year 2001, Afghanistan’s history with the United States has been very rough and destructive due to the Afghanistan War. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, then-President George W. Bush signed a joint law resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for the 9/11 attack (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). On October 7th, 2001, the US launched missile strikes against Taliban military starting the official “War of Afghanistan” (Afghanistan Profile - Timeline). Twelve days after the airstrikes, the first wave of conventional ground forces arrive in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). In August 2003, two years after the start of the war, there are now over 10,000 American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). A few years passed by without any major events during the war, until September of 2008 when President Bush sent an extra 4,500 troops to Afghanistan (Afghanistan Profile-
Taylor, Alan. “Afghanistan: October 2011.” The Atlantic. N. p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Within weeks after the invasion, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan would be ousted from the region and replaced by Soviet forces. Soviet forces would next encounter an enemy that hid in the mountains and fought with guerrilla tactics. This Muslim rebellion group is known as the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen opposed the Soviets and Karmal government because both supported a communist government which rejected religion and wanted to modernize the government away from Muslim tradition that involved government and religion together.... ...
Before the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, there was a share of power between the political group leaders in Afghanistan. This was formed after the communist regime Najibullah had fallen in 1992. The Taliban’s first public appearance was in a heroic fashion. In “Afghanistan: The Taliban’s Rise To Power”, Alexandra Poolos wrote “a 30-truck convoy from Pakistan was nabbed by an Afghan warlord in southern Afghanistan. A small band of Taliban militants came to the rescue, freeing the...