Saturday, September 19, 2009

Kandahar province: Endless US Army orbat fun

Further to posts here and here, I think I now really (here's hoping) have it sorted out, information from someone well-informed. The US Army actually has four manoeuvre (combat) battalions at Kandahar province, not three, and only one at Zabul, not two. One battalion, the 1-12 Infantry, is now at Forward Operating Base Wilson in Zhari district and remains under command of the Canadian Task Force Kandahar. It's predecessor, the 2-2 Ramrods, also part of the Canadian task force, had been based in Maywand district.

The other three US Army Kandahar battalions (and the Zabul battalion) are from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. One will be based at Maywand, one at Arghandab, and one in the Daman/Spin Boldak area, to cover the road to Quetta in Pakistan and the border (much of the Taliban leadership is based in Quetta/environs). They will form an arc around Kandahar City from west to north to south/southeast, as Task Force Stryker under US command.

Task Force Kandahar (one Canadian and one American battalion, plus support elements) will cover Zhari, Panjwayi and Dand districts, a slice of territory to the west and southwest of the city (Dand not noted on map, south of Kandahar City next to Panjwayi, the Canadians are making a major effort there--Dand may actually be the name for the district the city itself is in):
The importance of these areas is made clear (visually) by BruceR. here:
Let's go to the map
Also, contrary to Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail, the current Task Force Kandahar rotation, mainly Van Doos, has engaged in significantly more combat operations than its predecessor. And mentors training the Afghans with the OMLTs [more here and here] are in combat engagements even more frequently.

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