Helmand Province - Current Military Situation

Current Military Situation

It was announced on January 27, 2006 in the British Parliament that a NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would be replacing the U.S. troops in the province as part of Operation Herrick. The British 16 Air Assault Brigade would be the core of the force in Helmand Province. British bases are located in the districts of Sangin, Lashkar Gah and Gereshk. British forces were replaced in Sangin by elements of the United States Marine Corps I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward.

As of Summer 2006, Helmand was one of the provinces involved in Operation Mountain Thrust, a combined NATO-Afghan mission targeted at Taliban fighters in the south of the country. In July 2006, this offensive mission essentially stalled in Helmand as NATO, primarily British, and Afghan troops were forced to take increasingly defensive positions under heavy insurgent pressure. In response, British troop levels in the province were increased, and new encampments were established in Sangin and Gerishk. Fighting has been particularly heavy in the districts of Sangin, Naway, Nawzad and Garmsir. There are reports that the Taliban see Helmand province as a key testing area for their ability to take and hold Afghan territory from NATO and Afghan National Army troops. Commanders on the ground have described the situation as the most brutal conflict the British Army has been involved in since the Korean War.

In Autumn 2006, British troops started to reach "cessation of hostilities" agreements with local Taliban forces around the district centers where they had been stationed earlier in the summer. Under the terms of the agreement, both sets of forces will withdraw from the conflict zone. This agreement from the British forces implies that the strategy of holding key bases in the district, as requested by Hamid Karzai, is essentially untenable with the current levels of British troop deployment. The agreement is also a setback for Taliban fighters, who were desperate to consolidate their gains in the province, but are under heavy pressure from various NATO offensives.

News reports identified the insurgents involved in the fighting as a mix of Taliban fighters and warring tribal groups who are heavily involved in the province's lucrative opium trade.

Fighting continued throughout the winter, with British and allied troops taking a more pro-active stance against the Taliban. Several operations were launched including the more recent Operation Silicone at the start of spring. On May 12, 2007, Mullah Dadullah, one of the Taliban's top commanders, along with 11 of his men were killed by NATO and Afghan forces in Helmand.

In April 2008, 1,500 2nd Battalion 7th Marines occupied over 300 square miles (800 km2) of Helmand River valley and the Farah province. The operation was to set up forward operation bases and train the Afghan police forces in an area with little or no outside support.

In July 2009, 4,000 U.S. Marines pushed into the Helmand River valley in a major offensive to liberate the area from Taliban combatants. The operation, dubbed Operation Khanjar, is the first major push since President Obama's request for 21,000 additional soldiers in Afghanistan, targeting the Taliban rebels.

In June 2009 Panther's Claw was launched with the stated aim of securing control of various canal and river crossings and establishing a lasting ISAF presence in an area described by Lt Col Richardson as "one of the main Taliban strongholds" ahead of the 2009 Afghan presidential election.