Operation Anaconda or the Battle of Shah-i-Kot was a military operation that took place in early March 2002 as part of the War in Afghanistan. CIA paramilitary officers, working with their allies, attempted to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. The operation took place in the Shah-i-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains southeast of Zormat. This operation was the first large-scale battle in the post-2001 War in Afghanistan since the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. This was the first operation in the Afghanistan theater to involve a large number of U.S. forces participating in direct combat activities.
Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of infantry combat. He is the author of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997) which was adapted into a major motion picture and led to a resurgence in adventure creative nonfiction writing. He covered the War in Afghanistan for more than a decade, often embedded in dangerous and remote military outposts. The book War (2010) was drawn from his field reporting for Vanity Fair, that also served as the background for the documentary film Restrepo (2010) which received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Junger's works explore themes such as brotherhood, trauma, and the relationship of the individual to society as told from the far reaches of human experience.
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the United States declared the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the attacks under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, and to deny Islamist militants a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban government. The United Kingdom was a key ally of the United States, offering support for military action from the start of the invasion preparations. The American military presence in Afghanistan greatly bolstered the Northern Alliance, which had been locked in a losing fight with the Taliban during the Afghan Civil War. Prior to the beginning of the United States' war effort, the Taliban had seized around 85% of Afghanistan's territory as well as the capital city of Kabul, effectively confining the Northern Alliance to Badakhshan Province and smaller surrounding areas. The American-led invasion on 7 October 2001, marked the first phase of what would become the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan.
Sangin is a town in Helmand province of Afghanistan, with a population of approximately 20,000 people. It is located on 32°4′24″N64°50′2″E in the valley of the Helmand River at 888 m (2,913 ft) altitude, 95 km (59 mi) to the north-east of Lashkargah. Sangin is notorious as one of the central locations of the opium trade in the south of the country, and is also a town that has traditionally supported the Taliban. It was described by British newspaper The Guardian as "the deadliest area in Afghanistan" in 2010. Sangin also houses the main bazaar for Sangin District. Route 611 passes through Sangin.
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 reconstruction projects such as schools, health-care facilities, and courthouses to take place in the targeted provinces.
Korangal Valley, also nicknamed "The Valley of Death" is a valley in the Dara-I-Pech District of Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan.
The Battle of Wanat took place on July 13, 2008, when around 200 Taliban insurgents attacked American troops stationed near Quam, in the Waygal district of Afghanistan's far eastern Nuristan province. The distant position was primarily defended by United States Army soldiers with 2nd Platoon, Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
Between 7 October 2001 and 30 August 2021, the United States lost a total of 2,459 military personnel in Afghanistan. Of this figure, 1,922 had been killed in action. An additional 20,769 were wounded in action. 18 operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency were also killed during the conflict. Further, there were 1,822 civilian contractor fatalities.
The following addresses the events in Northern Afghanistan between April 2009 and 2014. While this part of the country had long been relatively peaceful compared to the all-out war zones of the south and east, tensions would flare up again in 2008 when the German soldiers deployed to the area came under attack more often, leading to the deaths of the several soldiers. Previously hindered by national caveats, the deteroriating security situation prompted the German-led Regional Command North to launch a series of operations to take on the rising insurgency. Concerted operations began after an insurgent attack on PRT Kunduz within minutes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's departure from a visit. Within two years, the German presence would be doubled and additional reinforcements from the American ISAF contingent were called in, including heavy German armoured vehicles and US aviation assets, allowing for a more aggressive approach towards the insurgency.
The Battle of Kamdesh took place during the war in Afghanistan. It occurred on October 3, 2009, when a force of 300 Taliban assaulted the American Combat Outpost ("COP") Keating near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan. The attack was the bloodiest battle for US forces since the Battle of Wanat in July 2008, which occurred 20 miles (32 km) away from Kamdesh. The attack on COP Keating resulted in 8 Americans killed and 27 wounded while the Taliban suffered 150–200 killed.
Restrepo is a 2010 American documentary film about the War in Afghanistan directed by British photojournalist Tim Hetherington and American journalist Sebastian Junger. It explores the year that Junger and Hetherington spent, on assignment for Vanity Fair, in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, embedded with the Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army. The Second Platoon is depicted defending the outpost (OP) named after a platoon medic who was killed earlier in the campaign, PFC Juan Sebastián Restrepo, who was a Colombian-born naturalized U.S. citizen. The directors stated that the film is not a war advocacy documentary, they simply "wanted to capture the reality of the soldiers."
Salvatore Augustine Giunta is a former United States Army soldier and the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the United States Armed Forces' highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. Giunta was cited for saving the lives of members of his squad on October 25, 2007, during the War in Afghanistan. He left the United States Army in June 2011.
Operation Bulldog Bite was a joint US and Afghan counter-insurgent mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan, against Taliban forces that was conducted in November 2010. The operation targeted Taliban havens in the villages of the Watapur District, which lies in the eastern region of the Pech River Valley. The region served as a transit area for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters entering from Pakistan, and is just five miles from the Korangal Valley, an area where US forces had previously shut down combat operations. In 2009, US commanders stated that the valley was strategically insignificant due to its remote location, but the Taliban and al Qaeda would later use the region to launch attacks into neighboring Afghan provinces.
The First and Second Battles of Kakarak were fought near the village of Kakarak in the West Dorafshan district of Orūzgān Province, in southern Afghanistan. The fighting took place between Australian forces from the 1st Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force (MRTF-1) and Taliban fighters, with the area considered to be one of the last Taliban outposts in the area. During the first action on the morning of 16 March a six-man Australian Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) operating with Afghan National Army (ANA) troops was contacted by a numerically superior Taliban force near the village. In the ensuing battle one Australian was killed before close air support from Dutch AH-64D Apache helicopter gunships and US aircraft allowed them to withdraw after inflicting heavy casualties on the Taliban insurgents.
Operation Rock Avalanche was a six-day, US-led offensive from 19 to 25 October 2007, with the purpose of hunting Taliban fighters in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The mission also aimed to establish a peace with the local populace so that a road could be safely built through the area by the Afghan government. Over the course of the operation, a series of running battles occurred with members of the Taliban, as well as with local tribesmen. U.S. Army Paratrooper Salvatore Giunta would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during combat between U.S. forces and local Afghans.
Juan Sebastián Restrepo was a Colombian American soldier and medic. Restrepo was killed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, of neck wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire. He was honored in Restrepo, nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Korengal is a 2014 documentary about the War in Afghanistan directed by Sebastian Junger. It picks up where the film Restrepo (2010) left off, taking the viewer deeper into the experiences of the soldiers of Second Platoon, Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army while they were stationed in Korengal Valley of Kunar Province, in eastern Afghanistan in 2007-8. The film consists of footage of the soldiers during their deployment, as well as interviews conducted afterward. Most reviews of the film were favorable.
The Battle of Barawala Kalay Valley took place 29 March 2011 – 8 April 2011 in Barawala Kalay Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. The battle was part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). The goal was to close down the Taliban supply route through the Barawala Kalay Valley and to remove the forces of Taliban warlord Qari Ziaur Rahman from the Barwala Kalay Valley.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
War: As Soldiers Really Live It is a creative nonfiction book written by Sebastian Junger and published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2010.
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