Spanish participation in the war in Afghanistan
The participation of Spain in the war in Afghanistan began on December 27, 2001 with a decision of the Spanish Council of Ministers. The Spanish armed forces were involved in Operation Enduring Freedom and they were first stationed in Kabul as part of the ISAF as ASPFOR (Afghanistan SPanish FORce) , followed by a deployment in western Afghanistan . In addition to Spanish soldiers, police officers from the Guardia Civil are also serving as trainers for Afghan police forces.
commitment
As of November 6, 2011, 34 soldiers of the Spanish Armed Forces were killed in Afghanistan, as well as two members of the Guardia Civil . In a plane crash in Turkey in May 2003 on the flight from Afghanistan to Spain, 62 Spaniards (40 soldiers from the army, 21 soldiers from the air force and 1 member of the Guardia Civil) and 12 men from the Ukrainian crew died.
A major military operation with Spanish participation was:
- Battle of Sabzak 3rd – 4th centuries September 2009
history
After the UN Security Council had decided on a mandate (ISAF) on December 20, 2001, the Spanish Council of Ministers (Consejo de Ministros) approved the participation of a maximum of 485 soldiers from the army and air force in the international ISAF mission on December 27, 2001.
The first contingent (ASPFOR I) arrived in Kabul on January 25 and 27, 2002 . The Spanish contingent also operated a mobile hospital on Bagram Air Base from February to September 2002.
On May 26, 2003, a transport plane crashed in Turkey, killing 62 Spaniards.
On March 11, 2004, a series of train strikes took place in Madrid , killing 191 people and wounding over 2,000 people. The Spanish government, with the approval of the majority of the Congress of Deputies, increased the number of soldiers from a maximum of 450 soldiers to a maximum of 540 soldiers in July 2004. At the same time, the newly elected Prime Minister Zapatero withdrew the Spanish soldiers from the Iraq war .
For the presidential election on October 9, 2004, the ASPFOR IX contingent was increased to 950 soldiers from the army and air force (four helicopters). The Spaniards provided the 400-strong ISAF Quick Reaction Force stationed in Herat for about 8 weeks. The contingent was stationed in Kabul and Mazar e Sharif. In May 2005, Spain took over the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province of Badghis and built its own main base General Urrutia in the provincial capital Qala-i-Naw . Spain took over the management of the logistics center (Eng .: Forward Support Base) in Herat , from which the other three PRTs in the ISAF Regional Command West (RC-W) led by Italy are supplied. Spain also took on tasks in the headquarters in Kabul, in Herat and in training Afghan security forces.
On August 16, 2005, a Spanish helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan, killing 17 soldiers.
In the spring of 2007, the Taliban began infiltrating Badghis Province and the neighboring Faryab Province . This was especially true for the northern districts of Murghab and Ghormach, on the border with Faryab province, which were mostly inhabited by Pashtuns (otherwise mainly Tajiks live in the province) and were far from the nearest Spanish ISAF base in the south. The district of Ghormach was therefore transferred from the responsibility of the RC-W to the responsibility of the RC-N after several heavy fighting (see also Operation Karez ) and a base was rebuilt in Murghab where Italians, Americans and Afghans were stationed.
The man was executed on October 8, 2007. He was sentenced to death in November 2004 for murdering the Spanish journalist Julio Fuentes, an Italian journalist, an Australian cameraman and an Afghan photographer in November 2001.
On November 27, 2008, around 200 Afghan soldiers were ambushed from Qala-i-Naw to Balamorghab. After several hours of fighting and only after Afghan reinforcements arrived by helicopter, the confrontation ended with 9 soldiers and 5 police officers killed and 20 abducted.
For the presidential election in Afghanistan in August 2009, Spain added 450 soldiers to its own troops at short notice. On September 3, about 100 Spanish soldiers were attacked while defending a pass between Qala-i-Naw and Herat, killing 13 attackers in a six-hour battle.
In November 2009, the Spanish armed forces used the anti-mine armored transport vehicle RG-31 Mk5E Nyala for the first time .
In response to the strategy change decided by NATO, Spain increased the maximum possible number of troops at the beginning of 2010 by 511 soldiers to 1,600 soldiers, among other things to strengthen the training of Afghan soldiers. In September 2010, the Spanish contingent had a staff of 1,521 soldiers and 40 civilians.
In July 2010 the new Spanish military camp Ruy González de Clavijo was opened in Qala-i-Naw.
On August 25, 2010, two members of the Guardia Civil and their Spanish translator were killed by the Afghan driver of an Afghan policeman in the camp near Qala-i-Naw. An angry crowd then stormed the camp. The day before, a group of 25 Taliban had given their weapons in the Spanish camp to be reintegrated. In the following weeks a total of ten people were arrested in the towns of Muqur and Sang Atesh (60 km north of Qala-i-Naw).
In March 2011, Spanish troops set up an outpost near Darrah-e Bum in Badghis province to secure the construction work on the ring road that encompasses all of Afghanistan .
On May 23, 2011, 116 Taliban in southern Badghis province handed over their weapons to the government.
The handover of security responsibility to Afghan security forces will begin in Herat Province in 2011 and will continue in Badghis Province in 2012.
costs
The Spanish government announced in 2006 that it would spend 150 million euros in Afghanistan over the next five years.
Web links
- Spanish Ministry of Defense on ISAF (Spanish)
- ejercito.mde.es Mission descriptions (English)
- realinstitutoelcano.org: Spanish Mission in Afghanistan (Spanish)
- revistaprotocolo.es: Defensa otorga medallas "de guerra" a 10 soldados por combates en Afganistán (Spanish)
- Matthew C. DuPée: Badghis Province: Examining the Taliban's Northwestern Campaign, December 17, 2008
- longwarjournal.org: Northwestern Afghanistan: Badghis province seeks security, revitalization, December 18, 2007
- realinstitutoelcano.org: Risks Facing the Spanish Contingent in Afghanistan (ARI), January 15, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ iCasualties: Spain
- ^ FAZ: Airplane with Spanish soldiers crashed on the Black Sea coast
- ↑ usinfo.org: Fact Sheet, Coalition Contributions to the War on Terrorism, June 28, 2002
- ^ Nato.int: ISAF's support to Afghan election
- ↑ Spiegel.de: The Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan is becoming more dangerous
- ^ Militaryphotos.net: heavy fightings between italian troops and talibans in Bala Murghab
- ↑ ISAF.NATO.int: Operation 'Sob Bakhair' Endstate: Uniting Afghanistan ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2014 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.
- ↑ typicallyspanish.com: The man who murdered a Spanish journalist and three others has been executed in Afghanistan ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ New York Times: Afghan government humbled by Taliban ambush
- ↑ Thaindian News: Spain to send 450 troops to Afghanistan during polls
- ↑ oe24.at: Afghanistan - Spaniards killed 13 Taliban
- ↑ ejercito.mde.es: Spanish troops in Afghanistan have the "most modern and safe" armored vehicle with the RG-31
- ^ New York Times: Spain adds troops to afghan effort
- ↑ pazyconflicto: ISAF distribuye la foto de Chacón inaugurando la nueva base militar española de Qala-i-Naw
- ↑ El País.com: atentado terrorista en Afganistán
- ^ Washingtonpost.com: 2 Spanish soldiers killed in Afghanistan
- ↑ El País.com: 25 talibanes entregan sus armas en la base Qala-i-Naw
- ↑ El País.com: Detenidas seis personas relacionadas con la muerte de dos guardias civiles en Afganistán
- ↑ La Moncloa: Spanish troops establish forward post in Darrah e Bum (Afghanistan)
- ↑ news.xinhuanet.com: 116 Taliban fighters lay down arms in Afghan province
- ↑ TheReader.es: Chacon denies sending greater troops to Afghanistan ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Spiegel: Spain and NATO - More Troops for Afghanistan?
