Helmand province campaign

The Helmand province campaign was a series of military operations conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces against Taliban insurgents and other local groups in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Their objective was to control a province that was known to be a Taliban stronghold, and a center of opium production. None of the ISAF's intended strategic and political objectives were achieved in the long term.

The deployment of international, mostly British, forces was part of the stage three expansion of the ISAF mandate, to cover the southern regions of Afghanistan. Until then Helmand province had seen only a limited coalition presence.

In the spring of 2008, a battalion of U.S. Marines arrived to reinforce the British presence. In the spring of 2009, 11,000 additional Marines poured into the province, the first wave of President Obama's 21,000 troop surge into Afghanistan.

On June 19, 2009, the British Army (with ISAF and ANA forces) launched Operation Panther's Claw and on July 2, 2009, US Marines launched Operation Khanjar, both major offensives into the province in hopes of securing the region before the Afghanistan presidential elections and turning the tide of the insurgency there.

Prelude

In 2006, a revitalised Taliban conducted a number of large-scale military offensives against coalition troops in Helmand, Kandahar and other provinces on the border with Pakistan.

In Helmand, the Afghan government only had a tenuous hold outside the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. The NATO presence in the province was sparse, limited to 130 American soldiers undertaking punctual anti-terrorist missions, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Through the month of April, a new British unit, the Helmand Task Force, was deployed in order to counter the Taliban. The core of the fighting force was drawn from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, and in particular from the 3rd battalion, of the Parachute Regiment. Based at Camp Bastion, then under construction, the task force numbered 3,300 men, though only a third of these were combat troops.

During the first four months of its presence in Afghanistan, the Helmand Task Force was expected to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom, and help track down Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists. It was thus placed under the command of U.S. Major General Benjamin Freakley, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 76. But being part of ISAF, it was also answerable to the ISAF Regional Command South, then led by a Canadian, Brigadier General David Fraser. This tangled chain of command was accompanied by a certain difficulty in defining the priority between two different and sometimes contradictory missions: either to win the support of the local population, or to fight and eliminate the Taliban.

Outposts under siege

The initial mission of the Helmand Task Force was to carry out reconstruction and hearts and minds projects in the relatively safe area known as "the triangle", centered around Lashkar Gah and Gereshk. However, the intensification of Taliban attacks led to a dramatic change in this strategy. In early spring 2006, Baghran District fell temporarily under insurgent control, and on May 18, a Taliban raid in Musa Qala killed some twenty Afghan policemen.

The possibility of a Taliban offensive sweeping over the entire province was taken seriously by the provincial governor, Mohammad Daoud, a personal ally and appointee of President Hamid Karzai. Daoud insisted that ISAF troops be deployed in the districts that were under immediate threat of Taliban attack: Sangin, Now Zad, Musa Qala and the strategic hydroelectric installations at Kajaki. This was the beginning of the controversial "platoon house" strategy, that saw NATO troops, mostly British, tied down in remote outstations across northern Helmand. All posts attracted sustained and intensive Taliban attacks, and remained under siege for long periods. The Task Force's limited assets became dangerously stretched, leading to difficult situations in several cases.

Sangin

The town of Sangin (population 30,000), is an important trading center of southern Afghanistan, and is believed to be the biggest opium market in the region. Thus it naturally became an important objective both for the Taliban and the coalition. Before June 2006, it was believed to be largely under insurgent control.

On June 18, 2006, Jama Gul, a former district chief, was ambushed and killed in Sangin, along with four bodyguards. When a group of his relatives went to retrieve the bodies, 25 of them were killed. It was this incident, sometimes described as "face-off between two drug lords", that led to the deployment of ISAF troops in Sangin. On June 21, a company of British paratroopers moved into the town, ostensibly to rescue the son of the current district chief, who had been wounded in the fight. However, after a personal intervention by Hamid Karzai, they were ordered to remain in Sangin, in order to assert the faltering authority of the central government.

At first, the situation inside the town remained calm, but this changed after June 27, after a failed special forces raid in the Sangin area, during which two British soldiers were killed. On June 30, the insurgents launched their first frontal attacks on the district centre, garrisoned by British troops. The attackers were driven off, after having lost at least twelve killed. Despite this, the Taliban did not relent, and renewed their attacks every night, using small arms, RPGs, and 107 mm rockets. The British answered with machine guns, mortars and Javelin missiles, and by calling in artillery and airstrikes. Resupply was sometimes interrupted for as long as five days, as Taliban fire would have put the helicopters at risk.

On July 15, as part of Operation Mountain Thrust coalition forces conducted an offensive into Sangin district, supported by armour, in the shape of light tanks of the Household Cavalry Regiment and Canadian LAV IIIs. In the face of overwhelming force, most of the Taliban retreated, and a supply convoy was escorted into the town. The garrison were able to strengthen their defenses after the arrival of an engineer unit.

After September 14, the fighting died down in Sangin. On September 21, the paratroopers occupying the government compound were replaced by a unit from 42 Commando, Royal Marines. In March 2007, the Marines were in turn replaced by a company from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. By this time, the Taliban had resumed their operations in the sector, and the fusiliers were attacked 79 times during their first twenty days in Sangin.

On April 5, 2007, coalition forces launched Operation Silver, as part of the wider Operation Achilles, with some 1,000 troops. After giving advance warning of their offensive, they advanced into Sangin, which had been mostly abandoned by the insurgents. The new governor of Helmand Assadullah Wafa, was able to install a new district governor, and ISAF claimed to have pacified the town. The Taliban claim to still control neighbouring areas. Since the end of the siege, the district compound has still come under attack, but the British have built two new forward operating bases a few miles away that draw most of the Taliban attacks away from the town itself.

Musa Qala

After May 18, 2006, coalition troops were deployed in Musa Qala, to defend the district centre. Serving also as a prison and police station, the district centre was situated in the middle of the town, a situation that greatly hampered the defenders. The garrison consisted of some 80 Afghan policemen, who were more of a militia than a police force, and were very unpopular among the local population.

The American unit present in Musa Qala was replaced on June 14 by a composite group of British troops, mostly pathfinders. The first heavy Taliban attack was launched on July 16, and though it was repelled with heavy loss, the insurgents maintained a constant pressure on the district centre. On July 26, the Danish 1 Light Reconnaissance Squadron, known as "the griffins", arrived at Musa Qala to relieve the British troops. However, these could not be extracted until August 8, when a full battle group operation, codenamed Operation Snakebite, was required to reach the town centre. The griffins were equipped with 16 Eagle armoured vehicles, one lost during the fight to get in the town, most armed with a .50 calibre machine-gun. Their commander built a series of ramps enabling the vehicles to fire over the compound walls. With the support of a mortar team from the Royal Irish Regiment and abundant air support, the Musa Qala garrison was able to drive back all attacks, but the presence of large numbers of Taliban prevented them from venturing out of the base. On the 24 August, the Danish unit were extracted and assigned to the Canadian-led Op Medusa, the Danes were replaced by a mixed British detachment of paratroopers and Royal Irish rangers, whose weapons array was considerably less powerful, having only two .50 cal and eight GPMG machine-guns. Knowing the garrison was weaker, the Taliban launched two attacks with a group of 150 men on August 26/27. Both were driven off, after which the insurgents concentrated on indirect attacks with mortars and 107 mm rockets.

By the end of September, the fighting in Musa Qala had come to a stalemate. The Taliban had suffered heavy losses and had been incapable of driving the ISAF forces out of the town. The coalition had also suffered losses: three British soldiers had been killed in Musa Qala, and their control of the town didn't extend outside the compound walls. Also, the British commanders feared that a resupply helicopter might be shot down, giving a propaganda victory to the insurgents. Both sides welcomed an initiative by the town elders, to negotiate a truce and avoid further bloodshed. The British agreed to withdraw from the city, and in return the tribesmen would deny sanctuary to the Taliban.

The agreement lasted 143 days, ending after the brother of a local Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghaffour, was killed by an airstrike from an American B-1 bomber. The Taliban claimed this had occurred in an area covered by the truce. In retaliation a group of 200-300 insurgents stormed the town on February 1, 2007, executing the elder who had brokered the truce, and jailing several others. On February 4, Mullah Abdul Ghaffour himself was killed in an airstrike. On the same day, General David J. Richards, who had supported the truce, was replaced at the head of ISAF by General Dan K. McNeill, who favoured a more aggressive approach.

In Musa Qala, the Taliban imposed their fundamentalist interpretation of Muslim law, closing down schools, restricting women's movements, levying heavy taxes, and hanging those inhabitants they suspected of being spies. The Afghan government and the coalition refrained from retaking the town, to avoid causing civilian casualties.

Kajaki dam

The Kajaki dam is a particularly important installation, providing water for irrigation in the Helmand Valley, and electricity for the whole province. Through early 2006, it came under increasing attacks by the Taliban, for whom even a brief occupation would serve as a propaganda victory. The dam was defended by a mixed force of Afghan policemen and security guards led by an American contractor. Nightly Taliban mortar attacks demoralised the defenders, who had no heavy weapons, and were unable to retaliate. In late June, a team of British paratroopers was deployed near Kajaki, and managed to ambush a Taliban mortar team, killing ten and wounding two.Bishop, p. 98 Thereafter, a permanent British military presence was established at the dam, where coalition troops occupied a series of fortified posts built by the Soviets during their presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban grew more cautious, but continued their harassment attacks throughout July and the first half of August.

In February 2007, British marines from 42 commando conducted Operation Volcano, clearing a safe zone around the dam and driving the Taliban out of mortar range. The main Taliban fortified position in the village of Barikju was cleared without casualties.

Since then, the situation around the dam has stabilised. Kajaki is one of the rare occasions during the Afghanistan war where both sides use fixed positions, and an actual front line has developed.

NATO counter-offensive

In April 2007, the number of British troops in southern Afghanistan was increased from 3,300 to 5,800 men. Heavier equipment was also deployed, namely Warrior IFVs, Mastiff protected vehicles and GMLRS multiple rocket launchers. The new task force commander, Brigadier John Lorimer, also requested that Challenger 2 tanks and AS-90 self-propelled guns be deployed, but these were refused.

On March 6, Coalition forces began a series of large-scale operations, to systematically clear the entire province of enemy forces.

Operation Achilles

Operation Achilles was the first task force-level operation to be conducted by NATO forces in the battle for Helmand. More than 4,500 British led ISAF troops were involved, along with 1,000 Afghan personnel. NATO officials reported that, contrary to what happened in previous operations, Taliban fighters were avoiding direct confrontation in favor of guerilla tactics. The main objectives were the strategic points of Northern Helmand, including all major towns, and the Kajaki dam.

A number of sub-operations targeted specific sectors:
* Operation Kryptonite (February 12): Some 300 British and Dutch ISAF and ANA troops cleared the area from where the Taliban had mortared the dam in the past months. On February 14, a senior Taliban leader, Mullah Manan, was killed in an airstrike between Kajaki and Musa Qala.
* Operation Silver (April 5): A 1,000-strong group composed of a heliborne force of U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, along with an armoured column of 250 Royal Marines, 100 Dutch air assault troops( Tiger CoY) cleared the town of Sangin, that had been mostly abandoned by the Taliban.
* Operation Silicon (April 30): This operation was undertaken jointly by 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment (The Vikings) and ANA troops, moving against the Taliban in Gereshk and the lower Sangin valley.

On May 12, Mullah Dadullah, second in command of the Taliban, was killed in Gereshk district, in a raid carried out by British SBS commandos and Afghan troops. A significant feature of the operation was the end of the siege of Sangin where British troops had been cut off for more than nine months. This time, coalition forces built a number of patrol bases, manned by British troops and Afghan security forces, establishing a permanent presence in areas from where the Taliban had been expelled. Achilles ended on May 30, with the result that NATO forces managed to establish a foothold in enemy territory in Helmand.

Operation Lastay Kulang

On the same day that Achilles ended operation Lastay Kulang, meaning "Pickaxe-Handle" in Pashto, started. This operation was not as successful as the previous one. At around 4:00 local time on Wednesday, May 30, 2007, ISAF and ANSF personnel advanced towards the village of Kajaki Sofle, ten kilometres south-west of the town of Kajaki, to remove a Taliban force whose presence threatened the security and stability of the Lower Sangin Valley.

During the night, elements of the American 82nd Airborne Division mounted an aerial assault on a Taliban compound. One of the Chinook helicopters taking part in the raid was apparently hit by an RPG round and crashed, killing five Americans, a Briton and a Canadian on board. Lastay Kulang ended on June 14, with the strategic outcome unclear. NATO stated that their forces cleared Sangin and Gereshk of Taliban and thus secured the Kajaki District. In contrast, the Taliban claimed that they still control much of Kajaki, and some of the Sangin districts. These claims were confirmed by the local residents, who complain that the Taliban returned as soon as NATO and ANA troops had left.

Operation Hammer

In late July another operation was started called Operation Hammer. It began in the early hours of July 24, 2007 in the area between Hyderabad and Mirmandab, north-east of Gereshk. The operation continued the momentum towards expelling Taliban forces from areas of the Upper Gereshk Valley in Helmand province. During the initial stages of the operation, ISAF and Afghan National Security Forces advanced to secure a strategic bridge crossing over the Nahr-e-Seraj canal, clearing and searching compounds, before military engineers from 26 Engineer Regiment established a joint forward operating base. Sporadic fighting followed after that. And by early November operations ended with coalition troops establishing a firm frontline south of the Helmand river and were preparing for an attack towards Musa Qalah, which had been under Taliban control for eight months.

Operation Sledgehammer Hit

Operation Palk Wahel (Sledgehammer Hit in Pashto) involved 2,500 troops, of which 2,000 are British, drawn mostly from the 1st battalion, the Royal Gurkha Rifles and from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment. During this operation, Warrior IFVs, manned by the Scots Guards, made their first significant operational deployment in Afghanistan. Most of the remaining 500 men came from the Afghan National Army, while small contingents from Danish, Czech and American forces also participated.

The objective of the operation was to dislodge the Taliban insurgents from their strongholds in the upper Gereshk valley.

The operation began on September 19, when the Scots Guards engineers threw a bridge over the Helmand river. During the early stages, coalition troops encountered heavy resistance and had to clear several compounds in close-quarter combat. An estimated 100 Taliban and at least six civilians were killed. Three British soldiers were also killed: two in an accident and one by an IED.

Battle of Musa Qala

On November 1, 2007, 40 Commando Royal Marines pushed north in Viking armoured vehicles, driving across the Helmand river north of Sangin, creating a bridgehead for the Scots Guards convoy. There has been on and off contact with the Taliban who have attacked British forces with rockets, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Having established positions around Musa Qalah, British troops have been carrying out reconnaissance patrols. The main focus of current operations is to disrupt and confuse the Taliban and destabilize their supply routes.

The town had become a major Taliban drug trafficking station and had been considered to be of symbolic importance to both sides, to the Taliban in the sense that they can take and hold ground in Afghanistan in defiance of the Afghan government and NATO.

On December 6, 2007, British, Afghan and U.S. forces started their assault on the town. Initially the British and Afghan forces attacked in the afternoon, from three directions. Several hundred US troops were later dropped from helicopters and fought on foot through the night. The Taliban defences included hundreds of mines and it was reported that the morale among the Taliban forces was high. Up to 2,000 Taliban fighters were confirmed to be in the town. One British soldier, 12 Taliban fighters and two civilian children were killed on the first day of the operation.

By December 8, 2007, NATO troops captured two villages south of the town and advanced to within two kilometers from the outskirts. The Taliban were withdrawing to their defences in the town and more Taliban reinforcements were pouring into the district. The biggest problem for the coalition were mines. Both of the two fatalities sustained by the coalition at that point were the result of land mines.

On December 10, the Taliban withdrew their forces northwards into the mountains and Afghan troops entered the town, meeting little resistance. Two Taliban leaders were reportedly captured during the battle.

On December 12, the town finally fell to advancing coalition forces.

Escalation

Stalemate in the south

By the end of December 2007, the situation on the ground reached a stalemate. A de facto border was established east of Garmsir along the banks of the Helmand River that divided British-held from Taliban-held territory. The British were outnumbered by the larger Taliban force which was receiving reinforcements. However the British had jets and heavy artillery on their side. Both forces were fighting in the coming months for mere yards of territory.

U.S. Marine reinforcements to Garmsir and North Helmand

In early April 2008, a battalion of U.S. Marines were sent to Helmand to aid NATO forces in the fight.

1st Battalion, 6th Marines, the battalion landing team