Battle of Musa Qala
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Musa Qala (also Qaleh or Qal'eh) was a military action in Helmand Province
, southern Afghanistan
, launched by the Afghan National Army
and the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) against the Taliban on 7 December 2007. After three days of intense fighting, the Taliban retreated into the mountains on 10 December. Musa Qala
was officially reported captured on 12 December, with Afghan Army troops pushing into the town centre.
The operation was codenamed snakepit . Senior ISAF officers, including U.S. general Dan K. McNeill
, the overall ISAF commander, agreed to the assault on 17 November 2007. It followed more than nine months of Taliban occupation of the town, the largest the insurgents controlled at the time of the battle. ISAF forces had previously occupied the town, until a controversial withdrawal in late 2006.
It was the first battle in the War in Afghanistan
in which Afghan army units were the principal fighting force. Statements from the British Ministry of Defence
(MOD) emphasised that the operation was Afghan-led, although the ability of Afghan units to function without NATO control was questioned during the battle. Military engagement over Musa Qala is part of a wider conflict
between coalition forces and the Taliban in Helmand. Both before and after the battle, related fighting was reported across a larger area, particularly in Sangin
district to the south of Musa Qala.
is a town of around 15,000 to 20,000 people, with another 25,000 in the surrounding area. ISAF forces were first deployed in the town in mid-June 2006, as part of the "platoon house" strategy. This consisted of protecting the district centres of Northern Helmand with small detachments of British ISAF troops, at the request of the provincial governor Mohammed Daoud
. This move met with an unexpectedly fierce resistance from the Taliban and local tribesmen, who used conventional, rather than asymmetric
tactics, to drive the coalition from their positions. The isolated British garrison found itself under siege and constant attack for long periods, and their replacements could only be brought in after a full battle group operation, codenamed Snakebite, broke through Taliban lines in early August.
The fighting ended in October 2006 when, in a controversial move, control was ceded to local tribal elders. The deal was intended to see neither British nor Taliban forces in the town in an effort to reduce conflict and civilian casualties. At the time, a British officer commented: "There is an obvious danger that the Taliban could make the deal and then renege on it." The Taliban did renege on the agreement, quickly over-running the town with 200 to 300 troops in February 2007. The Taliban seizure followed a US airstrike that incensed militants; a Taliban commander's brother and 20 followers were killed in the attack. A confluence of tribal politics, religion, and money from the opium trade
helped ensure the uneasy truce would not hold. At the time, the government claimed they could retake the town within 24 hours, but that plan had been postponed to avoid causing civilian casualties.
Musa Qala was the only significant town held by the Taliban at the time of the assault, and they had imposed a strict rule on its inhabitants. Special tribunals were set up, pronouncing sentences of stoning, amputation, or death by hanging against those who were considered enemies, or who contravened a strict interpretation of the Sharia
. Four men are known to have been hanged as spies during this period. The Taliban also levied heavy taxes, closed down schools, and drafted local men into their ranks by force. Other deprivations were reminiscent of previous Taliban rule: men attacked for not wearing beards; music banned and recordings smashed; women punished for not wearing the burqa
. The town is situated in a major opium poppy
growing area and a BBC correspondent has reported it to be the centre of the heroin trade in Afghanistan.
Royal Marines
and the Right Flank Company of the Scots Guards
were patrolling outside the town to confuse the Taliban insurgents and disrupt their supply routes.
In the days before the assault, reconnaissance patrols penetrated as close as a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the Musa Qala town centre. Hundreds of families were reported to have fled from the pending assault, after the coalition dropped leaflets in warning. Furthermore, the coalition secured the defection of a critical tribal leader, Mullah Abdul Salaam
, who had been governor of Uruzgan province under Taliban rule. A leader of the Alizai tribe, Salaam was reported to be in negotiation with the coalition as early as October 2007, causing a rift within the Taliban. His defection was personally sought by Afghan president Hamid Karzai
and he brought as many as one third of the Taliban forces defending Musa Qala to the coalition side. However, it is unclear if they fought on the side of the ISAF or simply stayed out of the fight.
Prior to the battle, two thousand militants were reported to be holding the town. A similar claim of 2,050 "fully armed fighters" was made in late November by Enqiadi, a taliban commander. At the time, Enqiadi seemed confident that the whole of Helmand province would fall to the Taliban in the winter of 2007–08. Subsequent estimates reduced numbers of Taliban fighters, with an ISAF officer suggesting that the maximum strength was closer to two to three hundred.
The main assault on Musa Qala began at 4 pm on 7 December. Several Taliban were reportedly killed in US airstrikes
as the attack began. That evening some 600 American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were airlifted to the north of the town in 19 helicopters. Chinook and Blackhawk troop carriers escorted by Apache
attack helicopters were involved in the assault. During the night the paratroopers broke through Taliban trenches to clear the way for further ground troops and then dug defensive positions. During the attack, an Apache was hit by ground fire and had one engine knocked out but the pilot, CW2 Thomas O. Malone, managed to land safely despite being injured. More than 2,000 British troops of the Helmand Task Force (then under the direction of 52nd Infantry Brigade), including Scots Guards, Household Cavalry
, and Royal Marines from 40 Commando, became involved in the operation. British troops set up a cordon around the town to aid the US attack and also began an advance with Afghan troops from the south, west, and east, exchanging gunfire with the Taliban. At least on the first day of the battle these advances may have served as a feint
to divert attention from the main US air assault
. Danish
and Estonia
n troops were also involved in the initial assault.
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Fighting continued on 8 December. As British and Afghan soldiers continued their ground advance, US air forces repeatedly attacked the Taliban, including numerous anti-aircraft positions surrounding the town. The Taliban defended positions surrounded by minefields, a principal danger to coalition forces. The assault made progress nonetheless, with the Afghan Ministry of Defence reporting that day: "In this operation so far, 12 terrorists were killed, one captured and a number of weapons and ammunitions were seized." A British soldier, Sergeant Lee Johnson of the 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) Yorkshire Regiment
, was killed shortly after 10 am on the eighth, when his vehicle drove over a mine; another soldier was seriously injured in the blast.
Taliban forces took up new positions to defend the town on 9 December. Taliban sources suggested at the time that militants from nearby areas were entering the town to reinforce its defence. Fighting was on-going through the day and bombs planted by insurgents continued to take a toll on ISAF forces: an American soldier, Corporal Tanner J O’Leary of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was killed by the detonation of an improvised explosive device
.
, described the retaking of the town:
Brigadier Andrew Mackay
, commander of the Helmand Task Force, emphasised that the coalition's plan encouraged the less committed local fighters—the so-called "tier two" Taliban—to break away from the more ideologically driven militants. This strategy may have been successful; Afghan president Hamid Karzai
declared that he had been approached by Taliban members wanting to swap sides after a string of insurgent exactions against civilians. He said: "They hanged a boy of 15 from a ceiling and lit two gas canisters under him." Precise Taliban casualties were not reported although the Afghan Defence Ministry suggested hundreds killed, detained, or captured. The insurgents claimed 17 Afghan army and ISAF killed, and blamed the British for at least 40 civilians deaths, but their claims may not be reliable.
Although fierce in the first days, the battle did not produce the house-to-house combat that had been feared; the Taliban largely retreated without protracted resistance. Poor weather conditions, including fog, may have allowed them to retreat more easily. Taliban spokesmen suggested the retreat was designed to avoid continued airstrikes and civilian casualties within the town. By the time the town centre was reached, fighting proved "unremarkable" and according to one senior US officer: "The urban center of Musa Qala was not significantly opposed, it was not significantly barricaded". The final advance into the town's main bazaar by the Afghan Army was physically led by an Advanced Search Team of the Royal Engineers
of the British Army
followed by EOD and the main Afghan force who raised their flag for the world's press.
Musa Qala is just one flashpoint in the wider Helmand province campaign
, a coalition effort to dislodge the Taliban from the volatile province, largely led by British forces. The battle to retake the town sparked conflict in adjoining areas. In November 2007, when reconnaissance patrols began, "vicious" Taliban attacks were launched in Sangin
Valley, Helmand province, to the south, including one which saw Royal Marine Commandos endure two days of rocket and mortar
fire. Just three days before the main assault, on 4 December, British forces suffered a fatality to the north of the village of Sangin, when Trooper Jack Sadler was killed by a roadside bomb. The week prior to the assault saw a variety of other engagements in Helmand: the British confronted sustained attack near the Kajaki Dam, northeast of Sangin; further west, Estonian, British and American troops were engaged near the town of Nawzad
at the center of Nawzad District
. Danish forces under British command were attacked in the town of Gereshk
.
In the days after the main battle was launched, Lieutanant Colonel Eaton confirmed that the Taliban were attempting to create pressure in other areas but that attacks on British bases had been repulsed. One Taliban commander noted: "We have launched attacks in Sangin and in Sarwan Kala (Sarevan Qaleh) ... We have orders to attack the British everywhere." When the principal Taliban retreat from Musa Qala occurred fighting continued elsewhere: on the eleventh and twelfth, retreating Taliban militants attacked a government centre in Sangin. They were repulsed with 50 killed, according to the Afghan Defence Ministry. American, British, and other NATO special forces were specifically deployed to prevent the Taliban from withdrawing north into Baghran District
, and east into Orūzgān Province
, their traditional refuge.
British officers expressed satisfaction that Musa Qala had been recaptured without any artillery shells or bombs hitting the town itself. However, they acknowledged that the Taliban had not been definitively defeated and would probably "have another go" in the area. Taliban fighters were believed to have merged back into the local rural population after the defeat, their traditional dress providing simple cover. In the days after the battle, counter-attacks on the town were considered likely and coalition officials suggested sustained defence would be necessary; British forces plan to reinforce Musa Qala but have emphasised that future defence of the village will be largely Afghan controlled. The optimistic picture of Afghan capability presented by ISAF command has been challenged. A reporter on the ground, writing for The Times
, notes that the Afghan forces "could barely function without NATO’s protection and NATO had to cajole them to move forward".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
was in Helmand at the time of the assault, visiting troops at Camp Bastion
. He suggested success at Musa Qala would provide a step toward Afghan peace and promised continued reconstruction relief. Coalition and Afghan government plans include the construction of a local mosque
, the rebuilding of a district centre, police buildings, schools, and the repair of the electricity infrastructure. The governor of Helmand, Assadullah Wafa
, said a delegation would visit Musa Qala to distribute 5,000 tons of aid to returning civilians in the immediate aftermath of the battle. On 26 December, engineers from 69 Gurkha
Field Squadron, 36 Engineer Regiment moved into Musa Qala and started rebuilding the district centre. Their task includes the construction of a perimeter fence made of Hesco bastion
s, and sangars (watchtowers) made of sandbags.
Various Taliban supplies were seized by coalition forces following the battle. On 13 December, British and Afghan army units located bomb factories and weapons caches as they moved further into the outskirts of Musa Qala and searched Taliban positions. At the same time, the first civilians started to return to the area, some with reports of Taliban punishments and claims of active Pakistan
i and Arab
jihadis. A new orientation of British strategy in Helmand is to use military force to curb the influence of local drug barons, whose trade supports the insurgents. On 16 December, British troops burned an estimated £150 to £200 million worth of heroin that had been found in a drug factory and other buildings in Musa Qala.
The strategic purpose of controlling Musa Qala is both to squeeze Taliban operations in south-western Afghanistan and to serve as a symbol of Afghan National Army and ISAF strength; the town had taken on iconic proportions, according to British officials. The Taliban, however, continue to enjoy significant civilian support despite their atrocities and the broader campaign to win over the region remains difficult. Troop shortages have made it difficult for NATO to hold areas seized from the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Civilian return to the town was slow, with shops still shuttered on 16 December. Civilian casualty reports were conflicting: one resident claimed 15 dead bodies lay in a single street and another that his family were dead under rubble. The coalition rejected such claims, admitting only that two children had been injured, and possibly killed, when a car driving at high speeds towards ISAF troops during the battle overturned when the driver was shot dead.
Coalition and Afghan authorities continued their efforts to win over Taliban sympathizers. However a "miscommunication between authorities" created some tension. In late December, two western diplomats were expelled from Afghanistan. Governor Assadullah Wafa accused them of holding secret talks with the Taliban and proposing bribes to them; the secret talks were denied as a misunderstanding by a UN spokesperson. In January 2008, Mullah Abdul Salaam was appointed governor of Musa Qala district by the Afghan government, a gesture that was intended to encourage other Taliban commanders to change sides.
Helmand Province
Helmand is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the southwest of the country. Its capital is Lashkar Gah. The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region, providing water for irrigation....
, southern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, launched by the Afghan National Army
Afghan National Army
The Afghan National Army is a service branch of the military of Afghanistan, which is currently trained by the coalition forces to ultimately take the role in land-based military operations in Afghanistan. , the Afghan National Army is divided into seven regional Corps. The strength of the Afghan...
and the International Security Assistance Force
International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
(ISAF) against the Taliban on 7 December 2007. After three days of intense fighting, the Taliban retreated into the mountains on 10 December. Musa Qala
Musa Qala
Musa Qala is a town and the district center of Musa Qala District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at and at 1043 m altitude in the valley of Musa Qala River in the central western part of the district. Its population has been reported in the British press to be both 2,000 and 20,000...
was officially reported captured on 12 December, with Afghan Army troops pushing into the town centre.
The operation was codenamed snakepit . Senior ISAF officers, including U.S. general Dan K. McNeill
Dan K. McNeill
Dan Kelly McNeill is a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He served Commander, Coalition Forces, Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003 and as Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces Command from 2004 to 2007...
, the overall ISAF commander, agreed to the assault on 17 November 2007. It followed more than nine months of Taliban occupation of the town, the largest the insurgents controlled at the time of the battle. ISAF forces had previously occupied the town, until a controversial withdrawal in late 2006.
It was the first battle in the War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
in which Afghan army units were the principal fighting force. Statements from the British Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
(MOD) emphasised that the operation was Afghan-led, although the ability of Afghan units to function without NATO control was questioned during the battle. Military engagement over Musa Qala is part of a wider conflict
Helmand province campaign
The Helmand province campaign is a series of military operations conducted by ISAF forces against Taliban insurgents in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan...
between coalition forces and the Taliban in Helmand. Both before and after the battle, related fighting was reported across a larger area, particularly in Sangin
Sangin
Sangin is a town in Helmand province of Afghanistan, with population of approximately 14,000 people. It is located on in the valley of the Helmand River at 888 m altitude, 95 km to the north-east of Lashkar Gah. Sangin is notorious as one of the central locations of the opium trade in the...
district to the south of Musa Qala.
Background
Musa QalaMusa Qala
Musa Qala is a town and the district center of Musa Qala District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at and at 1043 m altitude in the valley of Musa Qala River in the central western part of the district. Its population has been reported in the British press to be both 2,000 and 20,000...
is a town of around 15,000 to 20,000 people, with another 25,000 in the surrounding area. ISAF forces were first deployed in the town in mid-June 2006, as part of the "platoon house" strategy. This consisted of protecting the district centres of Northern Helmand with small detachments of British ISAF troops, at the request of the provincial governor Mohammed Daoud
Engineer Mohammad Daoud
Engineer Mohammad Daoud was the governor of Helmand province in Afghanistan.Daoud was appointed in December 2005, and replaced in December 2006.-Appointment as Governor of Helmand:...
. This move met with an unexpectedly fierce resistance from the Taliban and local tribesmen, who used conventional, rather than asymmetric
Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly....
tactics, to drive the coalition from their positions. The isolated British garrison found itself under siege and constant attack for long periods, and their replacements could only be brought in after a full battle group operation, codenamed Snakebite, broke through Taliban lines in early August.
The fighting ended in October 2006 when, in a controversial move, control was ceded to local tribal elders. The deal was intended to see neither British nor Taliban forces in the town in an effort to reduce conflict and civilian casualties. At the time, a British officer commented: "There is an obvious danger that the Taliban could make the deal and then renege on it." The Taliban did renege on the agreement, quickly over-running the town with 200 to 300 troops in February 2007. The Taliban seizure followed a US airstrike that incensed militants; a Taliban commander's brother and 20 followers were killed in the attack. A confluence of tribal politics, religion, and money from the opium trade
Opium production in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been the greatest illicit opium producer in the entire world, ahead of Burma and the "Golden Triangle" since 1992, excluding the year 2001. Afghanistan is the main producer of opium in the "Golden Crescent". Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since U.S....
helped ensure the uneasy truce would not hold. At the time, the government claimed they could retake the town within 24 hours, but that plan had been postponed to avoid causing civilian casualties.
Musa Qala was the only significant town held by the Taliban at the time of the assault, and they had imposed a strict rule on its inhabitants. Special tribunals were set up, pronouncing sentences of stoning, amputation, or death by hanging against those who were considered enemies, or who contravened a strict interpretation of the Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Four men are known to have been hanged as spies during this period. The Taliban also levied heavy taxes, closed down schools, and drafted local men into their ranks by force. Other deprivations were reminiscent of previous Taliban rule: men attacked for not wearing beards; music banned and recordings smashed; women punished for not wearing the burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
. The town is situated in a major opium poppy
Opium poppy
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine , thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine...
growing area and a BBC correspondent has reported it to be the centre of the heroin trade in Afghanistan.
Battle
Immediate prelude
Coalition military manoeuvres and a build-up of troops and supplies continued for weeks before the assault. On 1 November, British forces started reconnaissance patrols in preparation for the attack. In the middle of that month, the MOD reported that troops from 40 Commando3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...
Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
and the Right Flank Company of the Scots Guards
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...
were patrolling outside the town to confuse the Taliban insurgents and disrupt their supply routes.
In the days before the assault, reconnaissance patrols penetrated as close as a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the Musa Qala town centre. Hundreds of families were reported to have fled from the pending assault, after the coalition dropped leaflets in warning. Furthermore, the coalition secured the defection of a critical tribal leader, Mullah Abdul Salaam
Abdul Salaam Alizai
Mullah Abdul Salaam Alizai is a former member of the Taliban movement who defected to the Afghan government in December 2007. He is a leader of the Alizai, a Pashtun tribe.In the 1980s, Mullah Abdul Salaam took part in the resistance against the Soviets...
, who had been governor of Uruzgan province under Taliban rule. A leader of the Alizai tribe, Salaam was reported to be in negotiation with the coalition as early as October 2007, causing a rift within the Taliban. His defection was personally sought by Afghan president Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
and he brought as many as one third of the Taliban forces defending Musa Qala to the coalition side. However, it is unclear if they fought on the side of the ISAF or simply stayed out of the fight.
Prior to the battle, two thousand militants were reported to be holding the town. A similar claim of 2,050 "fully armed fighters" was made in late November by Enqiadi, a taliban commander. At the time, Enqiadi seemed confident that the whole of Helmand province would fall to the Taliban in the winter of 2007–08. Subsequent estimates reduced numbers of Taliban fighters, with an ISAF officer suggesting that the maximum strength was closer to two to three hundred.
Main assault
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
as the attack began. That evening some 600 American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were airlifted to the north of the town in 19 helicopters. Chinook and Blackhawk troop carriers escorted by Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
attack helicopters were involved in the assault. During the night the paratroopers broke through Taliban trenches to clear the way for further ground troops and then dug defensive positions. During the attack, an Apache was hit by ground fire and had one engine knocked out but the pilot, CW2 Thomas O. Malone, managed to land safely despite being injured. More than 2,000 British troops of the Helmand Task Force (then under the direction of 52nd Infantry Brigade), including Scots Guards, Household Cavalry
Household Cavalry
The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...
, and Royal Marines from 40 Commando, became involved in the operation. British troops set up a cordon around the town to aid the US attack and also began an advance with Afghan troops from the south, west, and east, exchanging gunfire with the Taliban. At least on the first day of the battle these advances may have served as a feint
Feint
Feint is a French term that entered English from the discipline of fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or even none, will...
to divert attention from the main US air assault
Air assault
Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces...
. Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n troops were also involved in the initial assault.
Yorkshire Regiment
The Yorkshire Regiment is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is currently the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas...
, was killed shortly after 10 am on the eighth, when his vehicle drove over a mine; another soldier was seriously injured in the blast.
Taliban forces took up new positions to defend the town on 9 December. Taliban sources suggested at the time that militants from nearby areas were entering the town to reinforce its defence. Fighting was on-going through the day and bombs planted by insurgents continued to take a toll on ISAF forces: an American soldier, Corporal Tanner J O’Leary of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was killed by the detonation of an improvised explosive device
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
.
Taliban retreat
By 10 December, news outlets reported that the Taliban insurgents had withdrawn north from the area and that Afghan Army and ISAF forces were in control of the town. The British MOD was more cautious at the time, advising that "steady progress" had been made but that coalition forces remained on the outskirts of Musa Qala. Nevertheless the Afghan government suggested that the coalition had "completely captured" the town. NATO announced the town's capture on the 11th, however at the time the MOD suggested forces were still proceeding cautiously "compound to compound", only officially confirmed the capture of Musa Qala the next day. Afghan troops were called forward for the final push and by midday on the twelfth were reported to be in the town centre, in a gesture symbolising their ability to fight and defeat the Taliban on their own. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton, spokesman for Task Force HelmandTask Force Helmand
Task Force Helmand is the name given to a military unit of the International Security Assistance Force in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Task Force Helmand is currently part of Regional Command Southwest and consists of military forces from countries such as Estonia and the U.K....
, described the retaking of the town:
Brigadier Andrew Mackay
Andrew Mackay (British Army officer)
Major-General Andrew Douglas Mackay CBE is a former British Army officer who commanded 2nd Division.-Military career:Mackay was an Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police for three years before he was commissioned into the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1982...
, commander of the Helmand Task Force, emphasised that the coalition's plan encouraged the less committed local fighters—the so-called "tier two" Taliban—to break away from the more ideologically driven militants. This strategy may have been successful; Afghan president Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
declared that he had been approached by Taliban members wanting to swap sides after a string of insurgent exactions against civilians. He said: "They hanged a boy of 15 from a ceiling and lit two gas canisters under him." Precise Taliban casualties were not reported although the Afghan Defence Ministry suggested hundreds killed, detained, or captured. The insurgents claimed 17 Afghan army and ISAF killed, and blamed the British for at least 40 civilians deaths, but their claims may not be reliable.
Although fierce in the first days, the battle did not produce the house-to-house combat that had been feared; the Taliban largely retreated without protracted resistance. Poor weather conditions, including fog, may have allowed them to retreat more easily. Taliban spokesmen suggested the retreat was designed to avoid continued airstrikes and civilian casualties within the town. By the time the town centre was reached, fighting proved "unremarkable" and according to one senior US officer: "The urban center of Musa Qala was not significantly opposed, it was not significantly barricaded". The final advance into the town's main bazaar by the Afghan Army was physically led by an Advanced Search Team of the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
followed by EOD and the main Afghan force who raised their flag for the world's press.
Relevance to larger campaign
Helmand province campaign
The Helmand province campaign is a series of military operations conducted by ISAF forces against Taliban insurgents in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan...
, a coalition effort to dislodge the Taliban from the volatile province, largely led by British forces. The battle to retake the town sparked conflict in adjoining areas. In November 2007, when reconnaissance patrols began, "vicious" Taliban attacks were launched in Sangin
Sangin
Sangin is a town in Helmand province of Afghanistan, with population of approximately 14,000 people. It is located on in the valley of the Helmand River at 888 m altitude, 95 km to the north-east of Lashkar Gah. Sangin is notorious as one of the central locations of the opium trade in the...
Valley, Helmand province, to the south, including one which saw Royal Marine Commandos endure two days of rocket and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
fire. Just three days before the main assault, on 4 December, British forces suffered a fatality to the north of the village of Sangin, when Trooper Jack Sadler was killed by a roadside bomb. The week prior to the assault saw a variety of other engagements in Helmand: the British confronted sustained attack near the Kajaki Dam, northeast of Sangin; further west, Estonian, British and American troops were engaged near the town of Nawzad
Nawzad, Afghanistan
Nawzad is a small town, the centre of Nawzad District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It is located at at an altitude of 1221 metres ASL.-Conflict:...
at the center of Nawzad District
Nawzad District
Nawzad is a district in the north of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Its population, which is 100% Pashtun, was estimated at 51,170 in 2002. The district centre is the village of Nawzad; there are 14 other large villages and over 100 smaller settlements....
. Danish forces under British command were attacked in the town of Gereshk
Gereshk
Gereshk is a town in Gerishk District in Helmand province on the Helmand River in central Afghanistan, some northwest of Kandahar at 817 m altitude. Gereshk is the centre of a rich agricultural region with the Kajakai dam upriver diverting water to the Boghra Irrigation Canal. Gereshk was...
.
In the days after the main battle was launched, Lieutanant Colonel Eaton confirmed that the Taliban were attempting to create pressure in other areas but that attacks on British bases had been repulsed. One Taliban commander noted: "We have launched attacks in Sangin and in Sarwan Kala (Sarevan Qaleh) ... We have orders to attack the British everywhere." When the principal Taliban retreat from Musa Qala occurred fighting continued elsewhere: on the eleventh and twelfth, retreating Taliban militants attacked a government centre in Sangin. They were repulsed with 50 killed, according to the Afghan Defence Ministry. American, British, and other NATO special forces were specifically deployed to prevent the Taliban from withdrawing north into Baghran District
Baghran District
Baghran is the northernmost district in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Its population, which is 90% Pashtun and 10% Hazara, was estimated at 82,018 in 2002...
, and east into Orūzgān Province
Oruzgan Province
Orūzgān or Urōzgān , also spelled Uruzgan or Rōzgān , is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the center of the country, though the area is culturally and tribally linked to Kandahar in the south. Its capital is Tarin Kowt...
, their traditional refuge.
Aftermath
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, notes that the Afghan forces "could barely function without NATO’s protection and NATO had to cajole them to move forward".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
was in Helmand at the time of the assault, visiting troops at Camp Bastion
Camp Bastion
Camp Bastion is the main British military base in Afghanistan. Accommodating 21,000 people it is situated northwest of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, and exists to be the logistics hub for operations in Helmand....
. He suggested success at Musa Qala would provide a step toward Afghan peace and promised continued reconstruction relief. Coalition and Afghan government plans include the construction of a local mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, the rebuilding of a district centre, police buildings, schools, and the repair of the electricity infrastructure. The governor of Helmand, Assadullah Wafa
Assadullah Wafa
Assadullah Wafa is the former governor of the Afghan province of Helmand, and formerly governor of Kunar Province of Afghanistan and a previous governor of the Paktia Province where he was succeeded by Hakim Taniwal. His first name is sometimes spelled "Asadullah"...
, said a delegation would visit Musa Qala to distribute 5,000 tons of aid to returning civilians in the immediate aftermath of the battle. On 26 December, engineers from 69 Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
Field Squadron, 36 Engineer Regiment moved into Musa Qala and started rebuilding the district centre. Their task includes the construction of a perimeter fence made of Hesco bastion
Hesco bastion
The HESCO bastion is both a modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification and the name of the British company that developed it in the late 1980s. It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent dike or barrier...
s, and sangars (watchtowers) made of sandbags.
Various Taliban supplies were seized by coalition forces following the battle. On 13 December, British and Afghan army units located bomb factories and weapons caches as they moved further into the outskirts of Musa Qala and searched Taliban positions. At the same time, the first civilians started to return to the area, some with reports of Taliban punishments and claims of active Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
jihadis. A new orientation of British strategy in Helmand is to use military force to curb the influence of local drug barons, whose trade supports the insurgents. On 16 December, British troops burned an estimated £150 to £200 million worth of heroin that had been found in a drug factory and other buildings in Musa Qala.
The strategic purpose of controlling Musa Qala is both to squeeze Taliban operations in south-western Afghanistan and to serve as a symbol of Afghan National Army and ISAF strength; the town had taken on iconic proportions, according to British officials. The Taliban, however, continue to enjoy significant civilian support despite their atrocities and the broader campaign to win over the region remains difficult. Troop shortages have made it difficult for NATO to hold areas seized from the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Civilian return to the town was slow, with shops still shuttered on 16 December. Civilian casualty reports were conflicting: one resident claimed 15 dead bodies lay in a single street and another that his family were dead under rubble. The coalition rejected such claims, admitting only that two children had been injured, and possibly killed, when a car driving at high speeds towards ISAF troops during the battle overturned when the driver was shot dead.
Coalition and Afghan authorities continued their efforts to win over Taliban sympathizers. However a "miscommunication between authorities" created some tension. In late December, two western diplomats were expelled from Afghanistan. Governor Assadullah Wafa accused them of holding secret talks with the Taliban and proposing bribes to them; the secret talks were denied as a misunderstanding by a UN spokesperson. In January 2008, Mullah Abdul Salaam was appointed governor of Musa Qala district by the Afghan government, a gesture that was intended to encourage other Taliban commanders to change sides.
Taliban commanders
News reports mentioned numerous Taliban commanders having participated in the Battle of Musa Qala, many reported killed or captured:- Enqiadi, reported to be a Taliban commander prior to the battle.
- Mullah Ahmadullah, Taliban commander who spoke with the Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
during the battle. - Mullah Abdul Salaam, key tribal leader of the Alizai who defected to the coalition side (see above).
- Mullah Faizullah, deputy Taliban shadow governor of Helmand province, killed in an airstrike.
- Mullah Tor Jan, Musa Qala area commander, supposedly killed in an airstrike. His actual whereabouts remain unknown, as he was again reported killed in an engagement with Afghan and Coalition forces on March 13, 2008.
- Mullah Matin Akhund (also known as Abdul MatinAbdul Matin (Taliban leader)Mullah Abdul Matin was aTaliban leader in Afghanistan who was killed in combat in the Gereshk region of Helmand Province....
), Taliban district chief of Musa Qala, mistakenly reported captured. - Mullah Rahim Akhund, Taliban governor of Helmand province, mistakenly reported captured.
External links
- Afghanistan Information Management Services: Musa Qala District map (PDF)
- The Long War Journal: A chronology of the Musa Qala dilemma