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
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Battle of Kamdesh and provide an alternate outcome based on the utilization of intelligence and intelligence assets. Many battles could have had a different outcome if they would trust intelligence reports without needing to validate the intelligence with another source or simply have other intelligence assets available. The Battle of Kamdesh was certainly one of those battles. The battle started just before 0600 on October 3, 2009 on Combat Outpost (COP) Keating and nearby Observation Post (OP) Fritsche in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. About 70 Soldiers of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, along with 30 Afghan National Army Soldiers (ANA), fought an enemy force of about 300 Anti-Afghan Forces (AAF) fighters. (Nordland, 2010) The battle took place in the Consolidation II portion of the Operation Enduring Freedom Campaign in Afghanistan. The AAF likely
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.
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.
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.
...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.
(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.
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...
The raid was set for the day of October 3, 1993. It was a simple plan that involved the soldiers capturing the lieutenants. They would have four Black Hawk helicopters go in and surround the building. They would drop the Rangers and the Delta Force soldier...
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.
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.... ...
Taylor, Alan. “Afghanistan: October 2011.” The Atlantic. N. p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
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...