Operation Dragon Strike

{{Short description|NATO counter-insurgent mission in Kandahar province, Afghanistan}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Operation Dragon Strike

| partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

| image =

| caption =

| date = September 15, 2010 – December 31, 2010

| place = Kandahar province, Afghanistan

| result = Coalition Victory

| combatant1 = {{flag|United States}}
{{flag|Canada}}
{{flagicon|Afghanistan|2004}} Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

| combatant2 = {{flagicon|Afghanistan|Taliban}} Taliban

| commander1 =

| commander2 =

| strength1 =

| strength2 =

| casualties1 = {{flagicon|US}} 34 killed{{Cite web |url=http://icasualties.org/OEF/Index.aspx |title=ICasualties | Operation Enduring Freedom | Afghanistan |access-date=2010-12-20 |archive-date=2010-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229103806/http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx |url-status=dead }}
{{flagicon|Canada}} 1 killed
{{flagicon|Afghanistan|2004}} 7+ policemen killed{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Bombs-kill-4-Afghan-police-in-Kandahar-3250918.php|title=Bombs kill 4 Afghan police in Kandahar|date=5 October 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/1428-3-police-killed-12-others-wounded-in-kandahar-blast |title=3 Police Killed, 12 Others Wounded in Kandahar Blast |access-date=2011-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717071651/http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/1428-3-police-killed-12-others-wounded-in-kandahar-blast |archive-date=2011-07-17 }}

| casualties2 = Heavy

| http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Afghanistan%20Report%207_15Dec.pdf = Operation Dragon Strike and the Fight for Zhari

}}

Operation Dragon Strike was a NATO counter-insurgent mission in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, against Taliban forces, which started on September 15, 2010.

Planning

The aim of the operation was to reclaim the strategic southern province of Kandahar, which was the birthplace of the Taliban movement. The area where the operation took place has been dubbed "The Heart of Darkness" by Coalition troops.{{cite web |url=http://www.aolnews.com/2010/09/27/operation-dragon-strike-battle-for-kandahar-begins/ |title=Operation Dragon Strike: Long-Awaited Afghan Battle for Kandahar Begins |access-date=2010-12-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004071016/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/09/27/operation-dragon-strike-battle-for-kandahar-begins/ |archive-date=2012-10-04 }}

The basic concept of the coalition operation, code-named Dragon Strike, was a series of sequential, mutually reinforcing attacks across the entire district to seize control of key nodes and movement corridors in the enemy system, and destroy enemy strongholds and IED and weapons facilitation networks. By advancing simultaneously across the district, ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) forced the Taliban to simultaneously defend multiple positions. Most importantly, ISAF for the first time moved into Zhari with the intention and resources to hold key terrain and to work with the local population to prevent insurgent re-infiltration.

Battles

The first in a series of decisive attacks across the entire district began in the early morning hours of September 15, 2010. But in the months preceding Dragon Strike, Afghan and coalition special forces had conducted shaping operations in Zhari. Many of these were kill or capture operations against insurgent leadership in Zhari, which successfully removed numerous Taliban commanders, IEDcell leaders, and facilitators. 195 Successful targeted missions continued while ISAF battle-space owners advanced through the district. In mid-October 2010, ISAF killed both of the Taliban's field commanders for Zhari, Kaka Abdul Khaliq and his deputy Kako.{{Cite journal|last=Fosberg|first=Carl|date=December 2010|title=Counterinsurgency in Kandahar|url=http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Afghanistan%20Report%207_15Dec.pdf|journal=Afghanistan Report|access-date=2016-05-31}}

The main force leading the operation were units from the 101st Airborne Division. Some of the heaviest of the fighting during the operation had been in the Zhari District, which is on the main highway to Kandahar and a major insurgent supply route into the city, the Arghandab District and the Panjwaye District.{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Mandy |title=Operation Dragon Strike Targets Taliban Hometown |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/operation-dragon-strike-targets-taliban-hometown/ |website=CBS News |access-date=October 25, 2021 |date=September 27, 2010}}

By the end of December 2010, the operation's main objectives had been accomplished. The majority of Taliban forces in Kandahar had withdrawn from the province,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/asia/16south.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=NATO Push Deals Taliban a Setback in Kandahar|newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 December 2010|last1=Gall|first1=Carlotta|last2=Khapalwak|first2=Ruhullah}} and much of their leadership was said to have been fractured.{{Cite web |last=Boone |first=Jon |date=22 December 2010 |title=Afghan Taliban leadership splintered by intense US military campaign |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/22/us-military-make-taliban-flee |website=The Guardian}}

The operation has also drawn large criticism from the local civilian population because of claims of heavy-handed tactics by the U.S. military. During October, U.S. troops destroyed hundreds of Afghan civilian homes, farm houses, walls, trees and plowed through fields and buildings using explosives, bulldozers, aerial bombardment and rocketry in Zhari, Panjwayi and Arghandab districts. Photographs revealed one village, Tarok Kolache, to have been totally destroyed by aerial bombing, while several other villages including Khosrow Sofla, Khosrow Ulya, and Lower Babur were reported destroyed by journalists working in the area. The governor of Arghandab District reported additional villages to have been destroyed.{{Cite news |last1=Shah |first1=Taimoor |last2=Nordland |first2=Rod |date=2010-11-17 |title=NATO Is Razing Booby-Trapped Afghan Homes |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/asia/17afghan.html |access-date=2023-04-18 |issn=0362-4331}} Lt. Col. David Flynn told reporters that villagers knew the locations of IEDs, and were given the option of removing them to prevent their villages from being destroyed.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Military officials later stated that most of the farms, orchards and buildings destroyed had been booby-trapped by the Taliban. Also, they argued that the destruction was positive in that it would force Afghan residents to go to their local government center for compensation, seeing this as a way to connect the civilian population to the Afghan government.{{cite web |last1=Gilbert |first1=Ben |title=U.S. Military Bulldozes through Kandahar |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-military-bulldozes-through-kandahar/ |website=CBS News |publisher=GlobalPost |access-date=October 25, 2021 |date=November 10, 2010}}

In late December, the civilians, displaced by the fighting, had started to go back to their homes only to find them destroyed.{{cite magazine |last1=Motlagh |first1=Jason |last2=Habibi |first2=Muhib |title=Taliban Recede: Coalition or Winter's Advance? |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2039748,00.html |magazine=Time |access-date=October 25, 2021 |date=December 27, 2010}} The damages caused by Coalition troops to civilian property were estimated to be more than 100 million dollars by two separate bodies within the Afghan government.{{Cite news |last1=Shalizi |first1=Hamid |last2=Nichols |first2=Michelle |date=11 January 2011 |title=Afghan campaign caused $100 million damage: Inquiry |newspaper=Reuters |editor-last=Popeski |editor-first=Ron |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70A3B620110111}} Of that sum, Coalition forces agreed to pay approximately 5 million.{{Cite web |last=King |first=Laura |date=2011-03-06 |title=U.S. rebuilds Afghan village it destroyed |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2011-mar-06-la-fg-afghanistan-destroyed-village-20110306-story.html |access-date=2023-04-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

Alleged Iranian Involvement

The US and NATO have accused Iran of attempting to destabilize Afghanistan, while Iran has denied supporting militant groups.{{Cite news |date=December 24, 2010 |title=Suspected Afghan weapons smuggler "not Iranian guard" |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/instant-article/idCATRE6BN0O020101224/ |access-date=March 28, 2024 |work=Reuters}} On 24 December 2010 it was reported that an officer from the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, was captured by U.S. Special Forces on December 18, a NATO spokesman said. Described as "a key Taliban weapons facilitator", he was arrested in Nor Muhammaed Koloche, in Kandahar province.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8223431/Iranian-soldier-captured-in-Afghanistan.html|title = Iranian soldier captured in Afghanistan|date=December 24, 2010|website=The Telegraph|last=Henderson|first=Barney}} It was the first reported capture of an al-Quds Force officer in Afghanistan. The joint security team specifically targeted the individual for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province. The ISAF later released a statement that the man captured was not a member of al-Quds, but declined to comment on his nationality.