Operation Harekate Yolo
| date | October / November 2007 |
|---|---|
| place | Afghanistan , Faryab , Badghis and Badakhshan provinces |
| output | Expulsion of Taliban forces |
| consequences | The Afghan state regained control of the occupied districts |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
Brigadier General Dieter Warnecke |
unknown |
| Troop strength | |
Harekate Yolo I:
Harekate Yolo II: |
approx. 300 men unknown number of Pashtun settlers |
| losses | |
|
no |
At least 14 Taliban fighters killed, |
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Operation Harekate Yolo ( Persian for “correcting the front”) was the first major military campaign in northern Afghanistan to combat the Taliban insurgents in October and November 2007. It ended after several weeks with the recapture of the areas in the Taliban which had only recently been occupied North by allied Afghan and NATO forces .
It was also the first offensive military operation under German command since the Second World War .
Starting position
Up until the summer of 2007, the situation in northern Afghanistan was considered relatively calm compared to the southern provinces. Apart from kidnappings and isolated assassinations, the fighting with the Taliban was hardly felt here. That changed in the course of 2007. In the summer , a suicide attack was carried out in the city of Kunduz , where the Bundeswehr maintains a reconstruction team , in which three German soldiers were killed. Accompanied by announcements on the Internet, several hundred Taliban fighters infiltrated into the north, especially into the neighboring provinces of Faryab and Badghis . With an estimated strength of 300 men, they raided cities and police stations in the districts of the two provinces until they occupied the entire province of Badghis. They also blocked the so-called ring road , a road that connects the most important Afghan cities in a circle and thus represents the most important arterial road in Afghanistan.
Operation Harekate Yolo I
The first part of the operation served to investigate the situation and to drive away insurgents south of the city of Faizabad in Badakhshan Province in northeastern Afghanistan. 400 Afghan soldiers and police officers and 160 German paratroopers were involved in the action. According to NATO reports, there were no losses on the part of the Allies. Several suspects are said to have been arrested.
Operation Harekate Yolo II
To recapture the lost province and smash the Taliban in the north, the ISAF put together a force for a counter-offensive under the command of German Brigadier General Dieter Warnecke , commander of the North Regional Command.
Under the command of Brigadier General Warnecke were the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) from Mazar-e Sharif , a unit of Norwegian marine infantry , the 209th Afghan Army Corps under General Ali Murat, including their German ISAF instructors, and 300 men supporting forces the Bundeswehr ( paramedics , helicopters, logistics, reconnaissance, CIMIC ). Individual specialists from Spain, Italy, Latvia and Hungary were also there.
procedure
The operation started on November 1, 2007. The area had already been investigated by the Bundeswehr's Tornado aircraft and Luna drones stationed in Mazar-e Sharif . During the first few days, some suspects were arrested who are alleged to have been complicit in the suicide attacks on ISAF soldiers. Skirmishes with suspected insurgents and criminals continued in the following week, in which the Allies used armored personnel carriers, artillery and mortars. In the course of the operation, the Allies succeeded in digging up several hidden arms and ammunition stores.
On November 3, 60 Norwegian soldiers of the Quick Reaction Force in the Ghowrmach district ( Faryab province ) between Herat and Mazar-e Sharif were attacked by around two dozen insurgents with automatic weapons and RPGs . The Norwegians returned fire and shot at least two attackers in the ensuing battle. After an hour and a half, the Norwegians withdrew.
Around noon on November 5, Afghan soldiers in the same district were attacked by the Taliban; after a short time Norwegian and German soldiers came to their aid. During the night, ISAF troops finally requested close air support from NATO, which, according to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, killed several dozen insurgents and a high-ranking Taliban commander. According to NATO, no civilians were killed.
Parallel to the direct action against the insurgents, another focus of the operation was a two-week deployment of a German CIMIC team from Mazar-e Sharif in the operation area. The mission, in coordination with the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), served to investigate the situation of the civilian population, ways to improve the infrastructure and - in cooperation with Afghan and US forces - to improve the humanitarian situation.
The operation ended on November 7th. Most of the ISAF units returned to Mazar-e Sharif.
German participation
The Bundeswehr provided a core module of an airborne rescue center (KM) from the Rapid Emergency Medical Service Command (Kdo SES ). In the air-relocatable medical facility (LSE) consisting of an emergency room / ambulance, operating area and intensive care / nursing area, the medical soldiers u. a. to save the life of a Norwegian soldier who, without immediate emergency surgical treatment, would certainly have succumbed to serious injuries.
Results
The Taliban could be driven from the two unrest provinces without Allied losses. However, with the exception of a little less than fifty people killed or arrested in combat, most of the insurgents were able to flee to the surrounding area or hide. A few days after the end of the operation, a Norwegian marine was killed by an explosive device near the town of Meymaneh in Faryab province.
The important ring road was now freely passable again and the Afghan security forces took control of the conquered districts. Several Norwegian soldiers were recognized by the US Army and the German Armed Forces for their services during the fighting in the Ghowrmach district.
Operation Harekate I and II mark a turning point in ISAF operations in northern Afghanistan : if the focus until then was on the implementation of security patrols, the acquisition of information and the civil-military stabilization of the region, in the future emphasis will also be placed on offensive operations in the network with the Regular Afghan Armed Forces (ANA) to ensure the reconstruction and protection of the population and ISAF armed forces.
criticism
A Norwegian soldier alleged that German helicopter pilots abandoned their ISAF comrades for nothing. However, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense denied this. The German support helicopters of the type CH-53 were stationed in the Norwegian camp Meymaneh during the operation, but could not be serviced there. In order to be able to ensure the operational readiness of the helicopters, they had to fly back to Mazar-e-Sharif every day and be serviced there overnight. However, since the lack of air mobility (e.g. no night flight capability of the CH-53) interrupted the rescue chain for wounded soldiers demanded by Germany and Norway, Brigadier General Warnecke decided to continue the operation in the crucial phase, the containment and detention of the opposing Taliban Interrupt night. After the experience with multinational missions - like the one in Afghanistan - 22 helicopters of the type CH-53 G have been converted into CH-53GS and are therefore capable of night flight.
In Germany there was criticism of the behavior of the federal government . On the one hand, because initially the Ministry of Defense did not announce anything about the operation and only informed the relevant Bundestag committee and the representatives of the parliamentary groups. On the other hand, because this mission was declared as a “routine mission” and therefore not subject to approval, although it took place largely in the area of the Regional Command West (administered by Italy). On the other hand, the mandate also allows operations outside the specified area, if these are limited in time and important for the ISAF mission in a larger context.
References
See also
literature
- Rolf Clement: Code name "Harekate Yolo II", in: Loyal. Magazine for Security Policy, No. 2, 2008, p. 26f.
- Dieter Warnecke: Harekate Yolo II. Security for Northern Afghanistan, in: European Security, 05/2008.
- Timo Noetzel : Germany . In: Thomas Rid / Thomas Keaney (eds.): Understanding Counterinsurgency. Doctrine, Operations, and Challenges . Routledge , London / New York 2010, pp. 46-58, v. a. Pp. 53-55 .
Web links
- Der Tagesspiegel (review)
- SpiegelONLINE article on the topic
- Focus article on the topic
- Report from the Norwegian Armed Forces
- Use mainly in the north , FAZ, June 4, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ For us ze war is over by tea time, yes. In: Times Online. The Sunday Times, November 18, 2007, archived from the original on December 15, 2007 ; accessed on May 6, 2015 .