Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate an understanding of the Mission Command principles. Background Information: Discussion boards are an important tool in facilitating student
Operation NASHVILLE
Breaking the Taliban’s Stranglehold in Kandahar, 2010 Anthony E. Carlson, Ph.D.
In July 2010, GEN David Petraeus, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, designated the 2d Brigade Combat Team (2d BCT), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) as the ISAF main effort. Commanded by COL Arthur Kandarian, the brigade was tasked to conduct offensive operations in Kandahar Province’s Zhari District, the birthplace of the Taliban. Since 2006, when a Canadian-led task force defeated a large concentration of Taliban fighters preparing to attack the nearby city of Kandahar, the Taliban had reasserted control over Zhari. The insurgent group had assassinated key tribal elders, established a shadow government including a de facto “supreme court,” and tortured political prisoners. The Taliban also had a stranglehold over commerce. On Highway 1, Zhari’s major thoroughfare connecting Helmand Province to the west with the city of Kandahar to the east, the Taliban set up illegal checkpoints to collect exorbitant tolls. Drivers who refused to pay were swiftly assaulted. By 2010, with a growing insurgency on its western doorsteps, the second largest city in Afghanistan suffered from political instability and economic stagnation.
To break the insurgency’s iron grip on Highway 1, COL Kandarian planned a series of coordinated operations south of the highway. The plan, christened Operation DRAGON STRIKE, involved his brigade’s two maneuver battalions (1st Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment [1-502 IN] and 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment [2-502 IN]) and its Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) squadron (1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment [1-75 CAV]) clearing the insurgent sanctuary south of
Highway 1 in Zhari. In July, the ISAF’s Regional Command-South (RCSouth) bolstered Kandarian’s combat power by assigning LTC Bryan Denny’s 3d Squadron, 2d Stryker Cavalry Regiment (3-2 SCR) to the brigade.
Kandarian expected his subordinate commanders to take bold action, exercise initiative, and accept reasonable risks. His intent was to “defeat the insurgency in Zhari … in order to secure the people, ensure Afghan FOM [freedom of movement] on Highway 1, and improve governance and development.” During his brigade’s rigorous pre-deployment training regimen, Kandarian emphasized decentralized leadership based on initiative. According to 2-502 IN commander LTC Peter Benchoff, Kandarian’s command philosophy was akin to drawing a circle on a map, announcing task and purpose, and letting his subordinate commanders achieve the intent without slavishly following a dictated plan. The brigade commander trusted his subordinate commanders to design schemes of maneuver tailored to their tactical environments and unforeseen contingencies within the limits of his intent.
Benchoff’s 2-502 IN served as the main effort for DRAGON STRIKE. Encompassing the western third of Zhari District, the battalion’s area of operations (AO) included “the most volatile and kinetic area in southern Afghanistan.” The AO’s naturally defensible terrain favored insurgents.
Eight-foot tall earthen grape rows, marijuana and poppy fields, tree-lined irrigation canals, pomegranate orchards, and a plethora of two-story mud huts scattered in the fields facilitated insurgent cover and concealment south of Highway 1. MAJ Curt Rowland, the 2-502 IN operations officer (S3), likened the irrigation canals to “World War I, trench style type defenses.” Running parallel to Highway 1, the canals enabled the insurgents to move laterally on an east-west axis, using covered positions to fire 82 millimeter recoilless rifles at highway traffic. In addition, the Taliban prepared extensive improvised explosive device (IED) belts on every north-south route connecting to Highway 1, making those routes – and indeed the entire Zhari district - a tangled maze of minefields and ambush sites.
In mid-September, Benchoff planned his battalion’s first offensive to clear Objective NASHVILLE, a kilometer-wide strip south of Highway 1 near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Howz-e-Madad. By establishing a foothold south of the highway, the battalion would restore commerce and occupy the violence-plagued villages of Baluchan and Pulchakhan, meeting two key tasks in COL Kandarian’s intent. Benchoff’s 22 September mission statement called for clearing “the vicinity of Objective NASHVILLE beginning on 25 Sep 10 in order to hold, creating freedom of movement along Highway 1 … and safeguarding the people immediately south of the Highway.” Benchoff instructed his subordinate commanders at all costs to avoid inflicting civilian casualties (CIVCAS) which would alienate the villagers living south of the highway.
Benchoff selected CPT David Yu’s Bravo Company as the main effort of what was now known as Operation NASHVILLE (see Map). Yu’s company would air assault into the village of Baluchan at night, search compounds of interest, meet village elders, and collect the biometric data of Afghan military age males (MAM). Two kilometers to the west, two platoons from CPT David Forsha’s Alpha Company (1LT Thomas Meyer’s 1st Platoon and 1LT Barrett Rife’s 2d Platoon) would attack to the east of Pulchakhan, searching compounds and establishing temporary strong points (SPs). To the east of Bravo Company, two platoons from CPT Timothy Price’s Delta Company (1LT Kyle Snook’s 1st Platoon and 1LT Sayre Payne’s 2d Platoon) and a company of Royal engineers from the United Kingdom’s 1st Armored Engineering Squadron would build a new road (Route TENNESSEE) from SP Spin Pir on Highway 1 southwest to an unoccupied Afghan compound a kilometer southeast of FOB Howz-e-
Madad. Benchoff intended to insert CPT William Faucher’s scout platoon into that compound, designated as Outpost (OP) Dusty, by helicopter. The battalion commander believed that constructing TENNESSEE would divert insurgents away from Baluchan, isolate them to the north, and allow Price’s element to bypass the impassable north-south routes.
On the verge of the operation, Benchoff was confident that his company commanders and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) shared an understanding of the operation’s purpose, potential problems, and the environment south of Highway 1. The extensive combat experience of his subordinate commanders and their collective understanding of his and CSM Troy Henderson’s tactical standard operating procedure (TACSOP) constituted the basis of his confidence. Benchoff described the battalion TACSOP, which was understood all the way down to the team leader level, as his “commander’s intent for the close infantry fight.” Zhari’s restrictive terrain put a premium on flexible, aggressive small unit leadership and decentralized command and control. “In difficult terrain where you have isolated units,” said Benchoff, “you’ve got to have that leadership with the drive and motivation and understanding of the intent and the desire to seek out opportunities to make success.”
NASHVILLE commenced on the night of 26 September. CPT Yu’s Bravo Company was inserted by air just to the northwest of Baluchan. During the next two days, the company searched compounds suspected of IED production, held shuras [meetings] with village elders, and entered the biometric data of Afghan MAM into a digital database. Remarkably, insurgent resistance was negligible. CPT Forsha’s two Alpha Company platoons also faced little enemy contact as they advanced to the east.
As Alpha and Bravo Companies moved towards their objectives, CPT Faucher’s scout platoon was inserted at OP Dusty before sunrise.
The scout platoon consisted of three reconnaissance teams of five or six soldiers and a sniper section divided into three teams of three Soldiers (a spotter, a sniper, and a security man). A seven-man Afghan National Army (ANA) reconnaissance element accompanied the scouts. Faucher’s soldiers used C4 demolition charges to clear the compound of IEDs and set up a defensive perimeter. Encircled by a four-meter high mud wall, the elevated compound offered a panoramic view of the surrounding terrain and nearby roads.
At OP Dusty, a kilometer to the east of Baluchan, the scout platoon encountered significant enemy contact. From positions concealed in Zhari’s maze of tree-lined irrigation canals, grape rows, and abandoned mud compounds, the insurgents initiated eight daytime firefights with machine gun bursts and rocket propelled grenade (RPGs) volleys. Faucher countered by radioing for multiple Apache attack helicopter gun runs, two dozen 120 mm mortar fire missions, and 13 155 mm artillery fire missions. Air Force F-16s also employed three Guided Bomb Unit (GBU), 38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), and five GBU 12s, all within 300 meters of the OP. On the next day, Faucher’s scouts faced almost continual enemy pressure in the form of small arms and rocket fire. While the attack helicopter support and indirect fire support made the risk Benchoff accepted in sending the scout platoon into OP DUSTY reasonable, the insurgents maintained their intensity.
As the scouts faced the threat at OP Dusty, CPT Price’s team departed SP Spin Pir just north of Highway 1 before sunrise. In the vanguard were the Royal engineers, followed in order by 2d and 1st Platoons. The Royal engineers used two 62,500-kilogram Trojan Armored Vehicles (AVRE) to construct Route TENNESSEE through the dense terrain. As the AVREs smashed through the foliage, the enemy opened fire on Price’s soldiers with machine guns and RPGs. The fire, as well as the dense terrain, slowed the movement toward OP DUSTY. To keep up the advance, Price’s team called for several attack helicopter gun runs. “The way I saw my role was to keep [the insurgents] pinned down,” explained 1LT Payne. The platoon leader worked feverishly to “pinpoint exactly those muzzle flash[es] … [and relay them] to the aviation assets, to the helicopters and they [were] my maneuver element because they can sweep across the objective.” As the sun went down, Price’s team halted and established a defensive position at the first irrigation canal 500 meters south of SP Spin Pir. The Americans had sustained just a single casualty, 1LT Snook had triggered a pressure plate IED that ripped off one of his feet. He was medically evacuated.
The enemy’s stubborn resistance along Route TENNESSEE and at OP Dusty surprised LTC Benchoff. Initially, he anticipated that Baluchan would see the heaviest fighting but he now realized that Price needed reinforcing. Benchoff therefore attached a section of M1128 Mobile Gun System (MGS) Strykers from 4th Platoon, Hawk Company, 3-2 SCR (4/H/3-2 SCR) to support Price. The 4/H/3-2 SCR section had been held in reserve at FOB Howz-e-Madad. Armed with 105-millimeter cannons, each MGS carried 18 rounds and could apply overwhelming precision fires to support infantry. Knowing that Price had served as a Stryker platoon leader during a previous combat tour in Iraq, Benchoff gave him freedom of action in employing the two MGSs.
When the MGS section arrived, Price briefed his plan. He explained that the movement of the Royal engineers and his two infantry platoons slowed to a crawl as insurgents massed fires on the exposed column. Price directed the MGS commanders to fire canister round volleys into the wood lines where insurgents were perched. Packed with nearly 1,000 ball bearings that fanned out in a shotgun-like pattern, the canister rounds were deadly effective against personnel targets. The presence of the MGS section had an immediate effect on the pace of the column’s advance.
As the movement’s tempo increased, Price faced a critical command decision. According to the Delta Company commander, the situation of CPT Faucher’s scout platoon at OP DUSTY had “escalated and they basically became pinned down.” The enemy was inching closer and closer to the scouts with each successive assault. Unless the Taliban fighters surrounding OP Dusty were defeated, Price recognized that the battalion’s mission to clear Objective NASHVILLE would be seriously delayed. Weighing his options, Price chose a bold solution. He decided to conduct a hasty attack down Route TENNESSEE toward OP DUSTY.
The MGS section would move flanking either side of Price’s command Mine Resistant Ambush Protected-All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV), trapping or killing the insurgents in the 300 meters separating the OP and Price’s forces. The two infantry platoons would maintain their current positions during the attack. As the assault began, Faucher relayed the location of six large insurgent positions located in compounds encircling the OP. Unfortunately, the dense vegetation negated the MGS’s thermal imaging targeting, preventing the MGS commanders from pinpointing exact insurgent locations. In response, Price ordered his crew to fire the M-ATV’s .50 caliber machine gun to mark the insurgent firing positions. He then ordered the MGS commanders to advance and fire on the marked locations in a dramatic show of force.
The two MGSs attacked towards the compounds, unleashing a barrage of High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) and High Explosive Plastic (HEP) rounds. The MGS crews then methodically moved from compound to compound, blasting holes through doors and mud walls at point blank range. The assault ended only when the MGSs ran out of ammunition. Enemy resistance then evaporated. Inside of the compounds, Price’s soldiers later discovered fresh blood splatter and trails, indicating the fate of dozens of Taliban fighters. “The arrival of the MGS on scene in the vicinity of OP Dusty completely ended the engagement and resulted in the enemy withdrawing from [Obective NASHVILLE],” Price explained. The bold decision paid off. NASHVILLE culminated with the 2d BCT establishing a foothold south of Highway 1 that it maintained and expanded throughout the remainder of the deployment.
According to LTC Benchoff, Operation NASHVILLE sharply reduced violence on Highway 1 near FOB Howz-e-Madad. NASHVILLE was just one of dozens of operations launched as part of DRAGON STRIKE but its success struck a major tactical and symbolic blow to the Taliban especially because of the area’s proximity to Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s home village of Sangsar a couple of kilometers to the south. Indeed, by mid-October, Taliban commanders complained to New York Times correspondents that the brigade’s deliberate combined arms attack south of Highway 1 had “routed” their fighters and loosened the insurgency’s stranglehold on Highway 1, depriving the insurgency of critical funding. Tactical victories do not always produce strategic success, but NASHVILLE showed that small combined arms teams, led by empowered leaders eager to take advantage of battlefield opportunities, could defeat determined adversaries in difficult terrain. For Further Reading
Anthony E. Carlson, and Matt M. Matthews. The Battle for Kandahar: The US Army in Operation DRAGON STRIKE, 2009-2010. Ft. Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, forthcoming.
Carl Forsberg. “Counterinsurgency in Kandahar: Evaluating the 2010 Hamkari Campaign.” Afghanistan Report 6. Institute for the Study of
War, December 2010.
Kevin M. Hymel. “Trapping the Taliban at OP Dusty: A Scout Platoon in Zhari District.” In Vanguard of Valor: Small Unit Actions in Afghanistan, 157-78. Ft. Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2012.
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