The 203 Mansoori Corps is one of the eight corps of the

Islamic Emirate Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when the Hota ...

established in October 2021 and headquartered in

Gardez Gardez ( / ; ''Gardēz'', meaning "mountain fortress" in Middle Persian) is the capital of the Paktia Province of Afghanistan. The population of the city was estimated to be ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70,000 in 2008. Th ...

. The current Chief of Staff is Maulvi Hezbollah Afghan. In December 2021, 450 soldiers after completing military training graduated from the 203 Mansoori Corps headquarters in

Paktia province Paktia (Pashto – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 623,00 ...

. The corps includes of the 2nd and 3rd Border Brigade each consists of hundreds of security personnel. The

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan Afghan Interim Administration, interim (2001–2002) and Transitional Islamic State of Afghanist ...

-era corps it replaced was known as the 203 'Tandar' Corps and was a part of

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

Command Staff

203 Tandar Corps until 2021

The 203rd 'Tandar' (Thunder) Corps was a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

of the

(ANA), headquartered in

. The original Gardez Regional Command was established on 23 September 2004. It was heavily involved in the

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) The war in Afghanistan was a prolonged armed conflict lasting from 2001 to 2021. It began with United States invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion by a Participants in Operation Enduring Freedom, United States-led coalition under the name Oper ...

. Early in 2006, the formation carried out the very first of the reborn Afghan Army's Medical

civic action program A civic action program, also known as civic action project, is a type of operation designed to assist an area by using the capabilities and resources of a military force or civilian organization to conduct long-term programs or short-term project ...

s, providing medical assistance to the civilian population, in

Khost Province Khost (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. Historically, Khost used to be a par ...

. On 19 October 2006, as part of

Operation Mountain Fury Operation Mountain Fury was a NATO-led operation begun on September 16, 2006 as a follow-up operation to Operation Medusa, to clear Taliban insurgents from the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. Another focus of the operation was to enable recon ...

, two Embedded Training Teams (ETTs) supervised a D30 artillery section from Fourth Battalion, Second Brigade, 203rd Corps, as it fired its first combat artillery missions, harassing the enemy with indirect fires. Three days later, the battalion successfully conducted counterfire (with assistance from a US Q-36 radar). Major General Abdul Khaliq, the corps commander, took operational command of Operation Maiwand in Andar district,

Ghazni Province Ghazni (; ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 Districts of Afghanistan, districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most ...

, a reported Taliban stronghold, in July 2007. This was reported as the first large-scale mission the ANA had planned and executed. Maiwand involved over 1,000 Afghan and 400

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

personnel. As of 2009, the corps consisted of the First Brigade (

Khost Khōst () is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram Agency, Kurram i ...

), Second Brigade (Forward Operating Base Rushmore, Sharana,

Paktika Province Paktika (Pashto: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktika has a population of about 789,000 residents, who are mostly ethnic Pashtuns but sma ...

), and Third Brigade (

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

). As of 30 November 2011, Brig. Gen. Zamaray Khan was listed by ''

Jane's Defence Weekly ''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...

'' as commander of the Second Brigade, 203rd Corps. The corps was supported by the Gardez Regional Support Squadron of the Afghan Air Force, equipped with eight helicopters: four transport, to support the corps' commando battalion; two attack; and two medical transport. In 2017, the 203rd Corps and 303rd Police Zone demonstrated a high level of cooperation not seen across Afghanistan according to Colonel Matthew J. Van Wagenen, commander of Task Force Southeast. The last commander of the Corps was General Dadan Lawang who had earlier been retired by

Asadullah Khalid Asadullah Khalid is a politician in Afghanistan. He served as head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), which is the domestic intelligence agency of Afghanistan. Before his appointment as the head of the NDS in September 2012, Khalid ser ...

but brought back by

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan former politician and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was 2021 Taliban offensive, overthrown by the Ta ...

. The Corps surrendered in Gardez on 14 August 2021.

References

{{Afghan National Security Forces Corps of the Islamic Emirate Army Military units and formations established in 2004

Command Staff

203 Tandar Corps until 2021

See also

References