Operation Karez was a military operation between May 13–23, 2008 involving Norwegian and German

ISAF The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 according to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined t ...

and

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

government forces against the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

as part of the war in Afghanistan. Their objective was to eliminate the presence of Taliban insurgents who had regrouped in the area in the aftermath of Operation Harekate Yolo in late 2007. It was the second time in half a year that Norwegian and German ISAF forces had participated in a major offensive in the restless

Badghis province Bādghīs () is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwest of the country, on the border with Turkmenistan. It is considered to be one of the country's most underdeveloped provinces, with the highest poverty rate. T ...

in western Afghanistan. It was also the first time that the professional soldiers of the Telemark Battalion had participated in actual combat. The name of the operation derives from the Afghan word for kareez, which is a water management system used to provide a reliable supply of water to human settlements and irrigation in hot, arid and semi-arid climates.

Background

In the aftermath of the tactical victory by the ISAF forces in Operation Harekate Yolo in October–November 2007, the Taliban insurgents fled to the mountainous border regions of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. However, the goal of the operation was not realized, as various aid organisations could not enter the poor

. This, along with a lack of control of the region by the Afghan government, gave the Taliban insurgents an opportunity to establish a stronghold there.Norwegian State TV NRK1
"Dagsrevyen" News rapport May 26th 2008
As a result, the National Joint Headquarters (Fellesoperativt Hovedkvarter - FOHK) prepared elements of the Telemark Battalion, which makes up the Norwegian Quick Response Force (QRF) with its base

Mazar-e Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the List of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh prov ...

in northern Afghanistan, to create better security for the central government in the area, which would make it possible for the aid organisations to enter Badghis province and provide assistance for its poor population. VG Newspaper
Norsk offensiv i Afghanistan - Minst 13 Taliban-soldater drept i harde kamper

The operation

The long planned operation was initiated on May 13 and lasted for ten days.Forsvarsnett
– Dette vi har trent på
By the twilight of the first day of the operation, the 250 Norwegian soldiers had encamped next to the village of Kor-i Karez, all according to plan. Suddenly the Norwegian soldiers came under fire from Taliban insurgents armed with rifles, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. The Taliban insurgents attacked from a distance of around 1200 metres, in what Major Rune Wenneberg described as a "well coordinated assault" against the soldiers of Telemark Battalion. While initially surprising the Norwegian ISAF soldiers, they quickly took control of the situation, and supported by CV 9030 armoured vehicles and

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

, the soldiers of the Telemark Battalion were able to successfully repel the Taliban assault. The exchange of fire dropped in intensity after the Norwegian soldiers used heavy weaponry against the insurgents, and after a couple of hours the Taliban insurgents had fled the scene. The Commander of the QRF, Lt. Col. Kjell Inge Bækken was proud of the professionalism and the calmness the Norwegian soldiers showed during the whole clash, further stating that they had trained long for military operations such as these.Forsvarsnett
– Norske styrker i kamper
The participating soldiers also commented that the training they got at home was important for their success in the operation. On May 14 and May 16 the soldiers of the Telemark Battalion engaged the Taliban insurgents in two further confrontations from a safe distance, again supported by CV 9030 armoured vehicles, mortars and NATO

close air support Close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires ...

, as well as by Afghan security forces.

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

Newspaper
Taliban-soldater drept av norske styrker

Newspaper
Lenge til neste norske offensiv i Afghanistan
Norwegians out of the fray
Aftenposten, 29 May 2008

United States participation

Along with 35 ETT and a PSD from ARSIC-N, US forces embedded with and supported Afghan commandos from May 17–19 participating in Afghan air assaults. These air assaults were conducted in Russian MI-16 helicopters to create a solid cordon while Norwegians pushed through forcing enemy combatants right into the cordon where they were stripped of any firearms and detained or engaged at times. The U.S. soldiers on these air assaults made history as the air assaults were a historic first for Afghan Airforce pilots and loadmasters.

German participation

The circumstances of the participation of the German soldiers in the operation is disputed. Whilst German sources stated that they were participating in Operation Karez in northern Afghanistan in conjunction with the Afghan army and the Norwegian QRF, the German magazine

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

stated that the German government hesitated to deploy the reconnaissance, logistics and KSK forces originally promised by the German regional commander. The reason given was that the area of operation, which is in Ghormach district, lay exactly on the border with the area under Italian command. For domestic political reasons, the German government is very intent on only deploying ISAF soldiers to RC North and Kabul, which are covered by the mandate from parliament, even if this interferes with operational realities. It was only on May 17 that the German Minister of defense, Franz Josef Jung, decided to approve the German participation in the operation. At that point, the Norwegian and Afghan forces active in the engagement had already been fighting the Taliban for a week. Spiegel Online
Not Licensed to Kill: German Special Forces in Afghanistan Let Taliban Commander Escape
The National Joint Headquarters would neither confirm or deny the information in the Spiegel article.

Newspaper
Tyske soldater holdt tilbake

Aftermath

On May 23 the ISAF-led operations concluded with no casualties among the

soldiers nor the Afghan security forces. The Norwegian soldiers and officers received very good response from NATO for their successful use of NATO tactics in combat, which focuses on the deliberate strategy of avoiding casualties and using heavy weaponry over long distances. According to the official spokesperson of the National Joint Headquarters, Lt. Col. John Inge Øglænd, it was one of the largest operations Norwegian soldiers have carried out in this part of Afghanistan, the size of the operation in November last year in which about 50 people were killed.

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

Newspaper
- Vi har drept 13 personer
The given numbers of Taliban insurgent casualties in the operation vary, but were estimated between 13 and 15 killed in action. According to the Commander of the QRF, Lt. Col. Kjell Inge Bækken, there were no reports of civilians casualties in the operation.

References