Nuristan Province - Operation Enduring Freedom

Operation Enduring Freedom

A map from the Ministry of the Interior produced on August 5, 2009 showed the western region of Nuristan to be under “enemy control”. There have been numerous conflicts between the Taliban, at times in tandem with other militias, and coalition forces. On 6 April 2008 elements of the 3rd Special Forces Group led Afghan soldiers from the Commando Brigade into the Shok valley in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the leader of the insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. On July 13, 2008 approximately 200 Taliban guerrillas attacked a NATO position just south of Nuristan, near the village of Wanat in the Waygal District, killing 9 US soldiers. In the following year, in early October, more than 350 Taliban fighters backed by members of the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin and other militia groups fought US soldiers and Afghan police in the Battle of Kamdesh at Camp Keating in Nuristan. The base was nearly overrun; more than 100 Taliban fighters, eight US soldiers, and seven Afghan security officers were killed during the fighting. Four days after the battle, in early October 2009, U.S. forces withdrew from their four main bases in Nuristan, as part of a plan by General Stanley McChrystal to pull troops out of small outposts and relocate them closer to cities. The U.S. has pulled out from some areas in the past, but never from all four main bases. A month after the U.S. pullout the Taliban was governing openly in Nuristan. In June of 2012, US Forces moved back into Nuristan Province.