Operation Towse A Garbe II
Pioneers of the US 40th Engineer Company / 2nd Engineer Battalion use mine detonators to clear booby traps from a road connecting Kunduz to Gor Tepa.
| date | December 27, 2010 - January 4, 2011 |
|---|---|
| place | Afghanistan , Kunduz Province , Chahar Darreh District, Shin Wari District |
| output | Expulsion of Taliban forces |
| Territorial changes | Mesopotamia northwest of Kunduz city between Khanabad and Kunduz rivers |
| consequences | Permanent control of the area by ANSF and ISAF;
The Afghan state regained control of the occupied Chahar Darreh and Shin Wari districts |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
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Maulawie Bahadar (Deputy Shadow Governor of the Taliban in Kunduz) |
| Troop strength | |
 U.S. Task Force 1-87 Inf (1st Battalion - 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division)
|
around 150 radical Islamic Taliban unknown number of opposing, foreign fighters ("Foreign Fighters") |
| losses | |
|
unknown number of wounded |
at least 10 Taliban killed,
|
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Operation Towse A Garbe II (German: "Hopeful Valley") was a joint military operation of Afghan, American and German troops in the northwest of Kunduz Province (Afghanistan) to push back the rebellious Taliban . Between December 27, 2010 and January 4, 2011, a task force made up of ISAF troops, American special forces and Afghan army and police units carried out an offensive operation in the area known as the "Mesopotamian" between the Kunduz and Khanabad rivers near the villages Isa Khan, Larkabi and Gor Tepa through. Between the beginning of 2009 and the end of 2010, this region was considered the Taliban's retreat in Kunduz. Especially the area around the village of Gor Tepa and the main road to Khanabad ("LOC Banana") were considered to be the fortress-like heartland of the rebels.
Starting position
For years, the so-called Mesopotamian country served the Taliban in the Kunduz province as a secure base for training and recruiting fighters, a logistical hub, a retreat and a starting point for operations in Kunduz. The only efficient land access via the connection road to Gor Tepa (“LOC Banana”) was therefore sealed off by the Taliban from the beginning of 2009 with a large number of installed booby traps and prepared positions for ambushes. Therefore, neither the units of the Afghan army and police nor the ISAF troops were able to move freely in this area. In November 2009, American special forces and Afghan commandos undertook an attack lasting several days as part of Operation “Wadi e Cauca”, with massive use of the Air Force, along this connecting road to the northwest. More than a hundred insurgents were killed or captured, including several Taliban leaders. As a result of this operation, an outpost was set up in the village of Talawka and occupied by ISAF-friendly Afghan militias. After American and Afghan units tried again in early December 2010 to advance from the east into Mesopotamia towards Gor Tepa, the operation ("Towse A Garbe I") had no result due to the large number of booby traps ( IED ) on the main road between Kunduz and Khanabad canceled.
Objective of the operation
In the same month another attempt was to be made to advance into the Mesopotamia and occupy the rebels' territory. For this purpose a task force consisting of two companies (A and C) of the 1st Battalion / 87th Infantry Regiment (US), the 40th Engineer Company (US), the reinforced 3rd Company / Task Force Kunduz (GER), the Task Force was set up in advance MERRILL (US Ranger), 2nd Battalion / 209. ANA Corps (AFG) and the Afghan Police, supported by Afghan militias, were formed. The German paratroopers of the Kunduz Task Force were to be landed in advance by American helicopters at night near the town of Baingi Seyab and to form a bridgehead over a tributary in order to seal off enemy reinforcements from the direction of Larkabi. This was necessary to secure the only access by vehicles to the west. Then the American A Company was to move to Talawka by helicopter and, after passing Baingi Seyab, attack the village of Qala Cha. The US ranger's special forces were supposed to carry out an access operation in the village of Cem Tepa by helicopter in order to destroy the enemy's command systems. At the same time, the main forces of the 1-87 Infantry and the pioneers, supported by the Afghan army, police and militias, cleared the "LOC Banana" of booby traps.
Course of the operation
- December 23, 2010:
In preparation for the "Towse A Garbe II" operation, a German reconnaissance force explored several approaches and waterways in the direction of the attack targets. This group was exposed and attacked on December 23, 2010 by Taliban units. In the subsequent firefight, close air support was used .
- December 27 and 28, 2010:
The advance reconnaissance of the task force was able to identify the course of the enemy security, so that on the night of December 28, 2010 a company of German paratroopers with Chinnok helicopters was dropped behind the enemy lines and marched to the village of Baingi Seyab. After reaching the bridge, Taliban troops began an attack on Baingi Seyab at noon on December 28, 2010 in order to recapture the bridge occupied by the Germans. Small arms, bazookas and machine guns were used against the ISAF unit. A second attack by the Taliban in the afternoon was just as unsuccessful.
- December 29, 2010:
The A Company of 1-87 Inf reached the bridge with allied Afghan units that had previously marched west from the Talawka militia outpost. Around noon, the Taliban attacked both the units at the bridge and the ISAF soldiers billeted in the surrounding homesteads. The attack could be repulsed.
- December 30, 2010:
At the same time, the main forces of the 1-87 Infrastructure advanced on the LOC Banana to Larkabi in the south of Mesopotamia and cleared several IEDs. On the night of December 30, 2010, American and Afghan special forces from Task Force 3-10 carried out an access operation in Gor Tepa, killing the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz Province, Maulawi Bahadar and his bodyguards, and taking several Taliban prisoners.
- December 31, 2010 - January 4, 2011:
In the days following the operation, the task force managed to advance on the LOC Banana to Larkabi and set up several outposts on the street and in the village. The village of Gor Tepa was also occupied by Afghan militias ("Afghan Local Police"). On the night of January 4, Afghan troops and presumably American units searched a complex in Shinwari. A large facility for building booby traps was discovered. The building complex was destroyed in the course of the nightly operation by the use of close air support .
Result of the operation
The operation is considered a lasting success because, from the point of view of the multinational forces, it was possible to regain control of the Taliban area in Mesopotamia for the first time and to hold the occupied areas by implementing a dense network of outposts. In addition, with the death of the deputy Taliban shadow governor, a leader in the opposing network was eliminated. After the end of the fighting, ISAF immediately began providing humanitarian and economic support to the civilian population in order to remedy the destruction caused by the operation and to provide rapid, visible development aid.
References
Web links
- www.augengeradeaus.net
- www.augengeradeaus.net
- www.augengeradeaus.net
- www.army.mil
- [1] www.tolonews.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- Brinkmann, Sascha; Hoppe, Joachim; Schröder, Wolfgang (Ed.): Feindkontakt. Combat reports from Afghanistan, ESMittler Verlag, 2013.
- Henkel, Oliver ;: Towse A Gharb Zwo. Paratroopers carry out air landing operations in Afghanistan, in: Bund Deutscher Fallschirmjäger e. V. (Ed.), Der Deutsche Fallschirmjäger, 01/2012, pp. 5–10.
- Seliger, Marco: Operation Hopeful Valley; in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 3, 2011.