201st Corps (Afghanistan)

Last updated

201st 'Selab' Corps
Active1 September 2004 [1] –15 August 2021
CountryFlag of Afghanistan (2013-2021).svg  Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Branch Afghan National Army emblem.svg Afghan National Army
Type Corps
Headquarters Laghman Province, Afghanistan [2]
Nickname(s)'Selab'
Engagements War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Commanders
Former commandersMajor General Abdullah, Major General Muhammad Afzal, Major General Raheem Wardak, Major General Mohammad Mangal, Major General Abdul Hadi Tarin [3]
Soldiers assigned to the 201st Corps during a training exercise in 2013 Afghan National Army soldiers with the 201st Corps provide security during a foot patrol training exercise at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, Laghman province, Afghanistan, May 29, 2013 130529-A-XM609-071.jpg
Soldiers assigned to the 201st Corps during a training exercise in 2013

The 201st 'Selab' Corps was a corps-sized formation of the now-defunct Islamic Republic's Afghan National Army.

The establishment of the corps started when the first commander and some of his staff were appointed on 1 September 2004. [1] Under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan the corps had the name 'Selab' (Flood). [4] The corps was responsible for the east of the country (Kabul, Logar, Kapisa, Nuristan, Kunar, and Laghman provinces). The last corps commander under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was Major General Mohammad Zaman Waziri.

The corps' 1st Brigade was at the Presidential Palace. 3rd Brigade, at Pol-e-Charkhi, was a mechanised formation including M113s [5] and Soviet-built main battle tanks. [6] In mid-2003, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment sent a training team to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, of the Central Corps to assist the creation of a battalion equipped with T-62s and BMP-1s and BMP-2s to help provide security during the Loya Jirga of 2003 and the 2004 Afghan presidential elections. [7]

Later information from LongWarJournal.com placed most of the 3rd Brigade at Jalalabad, 2nd Brigade at Pol-e-Charkhi, and only a single battalion of 1st Brigade at the Presidential Palace. [8] Its area of responsibility included Kabul as well as vital routes running north and south, and valleys leading from the Pakistani border into Afghanistan. As of 2009, the 3rd Brigade of the 201st Corps was the only unit that had control of an area of responsibility in Afghanistan without the aid or assistance of U.S. or coalition forces. [9] [10] August 6–7, 2009 in the Shpee Valley, Kapisa , during a joint Afghan-Franco-American Operation (Brest Thunder), Afghan soldiers from 3rd Kandak, 3rd Brigade, 201st Corps saved the life of Forward Observer Christopher Mercer Lowe (US Army) after he took a snipers bullet to his right thigh. [11] [12]

A new fourth brigade of the corps was planned to be established in the province of Nuristan. [13] By 2013, the 4th Brigade, 201st Corps, had its headquarters near Jalalabad. [14]

Soldiers of the 1st Kandak, 4th Brigade, 201st Corps board an Afghan Air Force Mi-17 helicopter after executing a clearing operation near Hesarak, Nangarhar province, 17 May 2013 Afghan National Army soldiers with the 1st Kandak, 4th Brigade, 201st Corps board an Afghan National Army Air Force Mi-17 helicopter after executing a clearing operation near Hesarak, Nangarhar province 130517-A-WI517-213.jpg
Soldiers of the 1st Kandak, 4th Brigade, 201st Corps board an Afghan Air Force Mi-17 helicopter after executing a clearing operation near Hesarak, Nangarhar province, 17 May 2013

In February 2008, Marine Colonel Jeffrey Haynes and Embedded Training Team (ETT) 3–5, a part of the Regional Corps Advisory Command-Central (RCAC-C), arrived with a mission to "mentor the 201st Corps.. by providing military advice and training guidance" to its officers and staff noncommissioned officers. "The 201st Corps is very good," Colonel Haynes said. "When the Taliban attacked the prison in Kandahar last summer, they spearheaded the ANA effort into Anghardab and recaptured that strategic valley. The ANA handled their own logistics and their own intelligence." In the recent Marine-ANA-French (Groupement tactique interarmes de Kapisa) Operation Nan-e-Shab Berun, coalition and ANA forces cleared the Alah Say Valley of insurgents; casualties included one French and four ANA soldiers killed, with 37 opponents killed in action. [15]

Following the crash of Kam Air Flight 904 in 2005, ISAF made numerous unsuccessful helicopter rescue operation attempts. ANA soldiers also searched for the plane. The Ministry of Defense ordered the ANA's Central Corps to assemble a team to attempt a rescue of victims presumed to be alive. The crash site was at an altitude of 11,000 feet (3,400 m) on the peak of the Chaperi Mountain, 20 miles (32 km) east of Kabul. [16]

The 201st Corps and 111th Capital Division were the last IRA forces operational in Afghanistan remaining before the 2021 Taliban offensive reached Kabul. [17]

Previous Afghan Army Forces in the Kabul Area

Previous Afghan formations in the Kabul area included the Central Army Corps, from at least 1978 through the 1990s, and possibly earlier. The Central Army Corps was a very influential formation.

In 1953, Lieutenant General Mohammed Daoud Khan, first cousin of the King who had previously served as Minister of Defence, was transferred from command of the Central Corps in Kabul to become Prime Minister of Afghanistan. [18] His command has also been referred to as the Central Command and Central Forces. The Central Corps was headquartered at Amanullah's Darulaman Palace. [19] On the opening day of Parliament in October 1965, a violent student demonstration among which Babrak Karmal was at the forefront forced Zahir Shah's new prime minister Yousef to resign. Two students were killed when the new corps commander, General Abdul Wali, sent in troops to restore order. [20]

In 1978 the corps consisted of the 7th and 8th Divisions, the Republican Guard Brigade, two commando regiments, the 4th and 15th Armoured Brigades, and several support units. The 4th Armoured Brigade played a key role in spearheading the Saur Revolution of April 1978. An accessible Kabul Times article of the period describes what it claims as the 15th Armoured Division's celebrations of the Saur Revolution, and gives the division commander's name as Major Mohammed Amin. The Corps began to be worn away by desertions, with one of the first, involving a brigade of the 7th Division, occurring in mid-May 1979 on the road from Gardez to Khost. The whole brigade, maybe 2000 strong, reportedly joined the mujahadeen. [21] Reportedly they surrendered on the condition that they be allowed to keep their uniforms and weapons and join the anti-government struggle.

"As late as September 1982," [22] the commander of the Central Corps, a General variously reported as Wodud (Joes) or Abdul Wadood (Yousaf and Adkin), was shot in his office. [23] The 8th Division is extensively referenced in Ali A. Jalali and Lester Grau's Afghan Guerrilla Warfare: In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters, c. 2001.

In response to a Taliban attack towards Herat from the south in March–April 1995, the Kabul government airlifted a reported 2,000 troops from the Central Corps to Herat. [24] This was the first airlift of its kind since 1992. BBC's Summary of World Broadcasts for 1999 reports a radio transcript from Kabul noting that the former commander of the Central Corps, Mola Abdurraof Akhond, was appointed a commander elsewhere. [25]

The Central Corps appears to have been reactivated in August 2003. [26] The creation of the corps was planned to place army brigades under a central command structure for the first time, and create a command and control headquarters. Maj Gen Mohammed Moiun Faqir, an ethnic Pashtun, was appointed as corps commander. It was one of the first recipients of new Afghan National Army battalions trained by the United States, with its strength in July including five to six of the new battalions within two brigades. [27] Soon afterwards, a training team from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Irwin was sent to Kabul to assist the leadership of the newly forming 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, of the Central Corps form an effective tank unit, using T-62s. [7]

In March 2004, fighting between two local militias took place in Herat. It was reported that Mirwais Sadiq (son of warlord Ismail Khan) was assassinated in unclear circumstances. Thereafter a bigger conflict began that resulted in the death of up to 100 people. The battle was between troops of Ismail Khan and Abdul Zahir Nayebzada, a senior local military commander blamed for the death of Sadiq. [28] Nayebzada commanded the 17th Herat Division of the Defence Ministry's 4th Corps. [29] In response to the fighting, about 1,500 newly trained Central Corps soldiers were sent to Herat in order to bring the situation under control.

The 8th Division was still active in July 2004, when defence minister Mohammed Fahim was considering pushing back against Karzai's removal of him from the position of Karzai's running mate for first vice-president. Fahim and his faction Shura-e Nazar commanded the loyalty of the formation, which was described as having ''..an estimated 5,000 loyal troops stationed in the Shomali Plain—the fertile land just north of Kabul—and in the capital itself.'' [30]

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References

  1. 1 2 Jane's World Armies
  2. ↑ Radin, CJ. "Afghan National Army (ANA)" (PDF). The Long War Journal.
  3. ↑ Khaama Press (16 August 2015). "201st Corps Commander: Military operation in Hisarak District unprecedented in last 14 years". The Khaama Press News Agency. Khaama Press. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Summary of Afghan National Army (ANA)". Naval Postgraduate School.
  5. ↑ DefendAmerica.mil, Afghan Army gets armored personnel carriers Archived 16 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine , 25 April 2005
  6. ↑ "Bagram-Kabul-Bagram". Austin Bay Blog. 21 June 2005. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2008., 21 June 2005
  7. 1 2 Donald Stoker, ed. (2008). "Training the new Afghan tank force: a multi-national advisory mission, 2 June 2003 to 3 December 2003 / Jonathan Byrom". Military advising and assistance : from mercenaries to privatization, 1815-2007. London ; New York: Routledge. p. 192. ISBN   9780415770156.
  8. ↑ CJ Radin, Long War Journal, 2007-8
  9. ↑ Thomas Provost (III MEF), [ permanent dead link ], accessed August 2009
  10. ↑ See also "The Lowdown on the Afghan East Status Report - America's North Shore Journal". 8 September 2018.
  11. ↑ Bobbie O'Brien (8 December 2010). "Veteran Helping Veteran with PTSD". OFF THE BASE . Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Craig Coleman (11 March 2010). "Guardsman earns bronze star with 'V' device". Walter Reed Public Affairs . Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  13. ↑ An official said on Monday, Pajhwok News report
  14. ↑ Hall, Kristin M. "Army leaders walk fine line as Afghan advisors". AP The Big Story. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  15. ↑ Andrew Lubin (30 April 2009). "BASE NEWS: Mentors in Afghanistan". The Washington Times . Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  16. ↑ Mack Davis Afghan National Army Assists in Plane Crash Aftermath Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine . USA Special to American Forces Press Service. 14 February 2005
  17. ↑ "Taliban encircling Afghan capital Kabul, prepping final assault through east | FDD's Long War Journal". www.longwarjournal.org. 14 August 2021.
  18. ↑ Peter Tomsen, The Wars of Afghanistan, Public Affairs, 2011, 90.
  19. ↑ Tomsen, p.80
  20. ↑ Tomsen, 102.
  21. ↑ Urban, Mark (1988). War in Afghanistan. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. p. 33. ISBN   0-333-43263-0.
  22. ↑ Anthony James Joes, 'Victorious Insurgencies,' 190.
  23. ↑ Yousaf and Adkin, The Bear Trap, Leo Cooper, 1992, 146.
  24. ↑ Anthony Davis in William Maley, 'Fundamentalism Reborn?: Afghanistan and the Taliban,' C. Hurst Publishers, January 1998, 59.
  25. ↑ BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 1999, pages 3667–3679, page A-1.
  26. ↑ Pennington, Matt (31 August 2003). "REGION: Karzai inaugurates central corps of Afghanistan Army". Daily Times . Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  27. ↑ Report of the Secretary General, 'The Situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security,' United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, S/2003/754, 23 July 2003. See also Jason C. Howk, 'A Case Study in Security Sector Reform: Learning from Security Sector Reform/Building in Afghanistan (October 2002 – September 2003),’ U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, November 2009
  28. ↑ "Afghan aviation minister assassinated Slaying sparks factional fighting in western city". The Boston Globe. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 29 June 2013. and "Afghan minister killed in Herat". BBC News. 21 March 2004. Retrieved 29 June 2013. and "Afghan Aviation Minister Shot Dead". FOX News. Associated Press. 21 March 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  29. ↑ "Afghan aviation minister killed in ambush". 21 March 2004 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  30. ↑ "Key Afghan Minister to Back Karzai Rival (washingtonpost.com)". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
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