Afghanistan War order of battle

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Units from both the U.S. Army and Marines have deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. NATO-led forces also are playing a larger role in fighting resurgent Taliban in the south of the country. Below is a list of deployed major units, known as the Order of Battle (ORBAT). NATO-led forces also form the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Provincial reconstruction teams to facilitate security and reconstruction in Afghanistan (see their pages for more details).

Spc. Ronald Turner, from the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, provides security for fellow soldiers who are searching for insurgents and weapons in Mianashin, Afghanistan, in October 2005.
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Spc. Ronald Turner, from the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, provides security for fellow soldiers who are searching for insurgents and weapons in Mianashin, Afghanistan, in October 2005.

Contents

[edit] Overall Command and Control

This description of Command and Control within a US chain of command is incomplete at this time. It refers to Operation Enduring Freedom that includes some other "coalition" members, but is essentially American. However, there is also an expanding NATO structure that covers much of Afghanistan, including the Southern provinces that are the birth place of the Taliban and where the most serious fighting seen since 2001 took place in August and September 2006. This structure reports through the NATO chain of command, which in October 2006 formally took full responsibility for the whole of Afghanistan. CFC-A will disband after 30 Nov 06, and CJTF 76 has already joined the ISAF structure as large chunks of RC East. ComCJTF 76 now is also ComRCEast.

Many of the contingents listed in this article are part of the NATO ISAF rather than the US Operation Enduring Freedom. For example the British, Canadian and Dutch contingents in the South are NATO ISAF forces, rather than those of Operation Enduring Freedom. Some coalition units though, such as ground attack aircraft, support Operation Enduring Freedom, ISAF and the Provisional Reconstruction Teams.

The final completion of the transfer of authority from OEF to ISAF will in some ways not change coalition leadership realities much. The United States will remain dominant in the coalition structure, with a U.S. four-star general arriving to take command in early 2007. U.S. forces hunting the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan will also remain under U.S. control.

[edit] International Security Assistance Force

The overall command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force starts from Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe at Casteau, Belgium. The overall command is vested in Joint Force Command Brussum at Brussum in the Netherlands, then the Commander ISAF, who has five regional commands, Capital, at Kabul, North, South, East, and West reporting to him. The relationship of the British Task Force in Helmand to the MNB RC South is unclear; there may be effectively two brigade HQs for a brigade's worth of troops.

  • Regional Command Capital
    • Kabul Multi-National Brigade
      • Hungary has deployed one reconnaissance company that serves as part of ISAF's Battle Group 3 in Kabul.
      • A Latvian explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit is deployed as part of ISAF's Battle Group 3 in Kabul.
  • Regional Command South
    • Multi-National Brigade Regional Command South aka Task Force Aegis
      • Multi-National Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron -- 200 CF members with the Multi-National Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron (MNB HQ & Sig Sqn) in Kandahar. Constructed primarily from 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signal Squadron (1 CMBG HQ and Sig Sqn) Edmonton, however it also includes many professional and dedicated Regular and Reserve Force members from across Canada.
      • Task Force Helmand -- The main British ground force headed by 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines. See the UK contribution below for more details.
  • Regional Command East/Combined Joint Task Force 76
    • Task Force Spartan -- The 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) from the 10th Mountain Division heads up Task Force Spartan, a U.S.-led task force in the central and eastern regions of Afghanistan.
      • Provincial Reconstruction Team Bamiyan/New Zealand Task Group Crib
      • Other Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Asadabad, Gardez, Ghazni, Jalalabad, Khowst, Parwan, Mehtar Lam and Sharona.
  • Regional Command North (Mazar-e-Sharif)
    • PRTs
  • Regional Command West (Herat)
    • PRTs

[edit] U.S.-led Coalition

The overall command of the U.S. led coalition effort in Afghanistan is under Combined Forces Command Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, which reports to United States Central Command. CFC-A is to inactivate sometime after 30 November 2006, and is transitioning from an operational fighting command to an administration apparatus. Its two major commands are Combined Joint Task Force 76, and the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A). With the Stage IV transition of authority to ISAF, the status of the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade/Task Force Falcon, which handles all the helicopter combat aviation duties in Afghanistan, is uncertain, along with the exact status of Combined Task Force Sword, the engineer task force, and the Combined Joint SO Task Force.

Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan

  • This command is responsible for training the Afghan National Army through Task Force Phoenix (see US 41st Brigade below), and also interacts with the German led project training the Afghan National Police.
  • 41st Brigade Combat Team, Oregon Army National Guard
    • More than 900 Oregon National Guard soldiers are deployed with the 41st Brigade Combat Team, which serves as the headquarters for Task Force Phoenix. The 41st BCT relieved the 53rd Infantry Brigade of the Florida Army National Guard in June (2006). The task force is in charge of training the Afghan National Army. The rest of the task force is made up of National Guard and Reserve personnel from 42 states, Marine Corps reservists, active duty representatives from the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and soldiers assigned from France, Germany, Romania, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

[edit] United States

  • Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force

This Task Force covers special operations missions across the country. Elements of nearly every major U.S. special operations unit have served in Afghanistan. Units that have deployed to Afghanistan in the past have included U.S. Army Special Forces teams, elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment, Navy Seals, units from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, squadrons from the Army's covert 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta, commonly known as Delta Force, and air commandos from the Air Force Special Operations Command. CIA paramilitary teams also have served in Afghanistan.

Special operations units from coalition countries also have served in Afghanistan, including members of Great Britain's famed Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), troopers from the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), Germany's KSK (Kommando Spezialkraefte), and soldiers from Canada's Joint Task Force Two (JTF2). In 2005, the entire Special Air Service of New Zealand was deployed to Afghanistan. Soldiers from Sweden's Särskilda Skyddsgruppen (Special Protection Group) have served in Afghanistan and two SSG troopers were killed by a roadside bomb in late 2005. Norwegian Special Forces units also have deployed to Afghanistan.

The deployment is the division's third to Afghanistan since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001. The 3rd BCT includes the following units:

    • Headquarters and Headquarters Company
    • 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry Regiment
    • 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment
    • 3rd Squadron 71st Cavalry Regiment
    • 4th Battery 25th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 710th Brigade Support Battalion
    • 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion

The entire 4th BCT was scheduled to deploy but the Pentagon revised that decision in December 2004. Instead, one battalion-sized task force consisting of an infantry battalion and attached fire-support, communications and logistics elements will deploy to assist transition of the coalition operations to the NATO International Security Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan. The non-deploying elements of the brigade will remain prepared to deploy within 15 days. According to a new relase from Fort Drum, where the division is based, more than 1,000 soldiers from the 4th BCT have deployed to Afghanistan. The force, known as Task Force Boar, consists of elements of the following units:

    • A reinforced battalion-sized element from 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment
    • 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 94th Brigade Support Battalion
    • 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment
    • 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion.
  • 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment

The 1st Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment relieved the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment on January 15, 2006. The battalion was assigned to Task Force Spartan until June 1, 2006, when 1/3 handed over their area of operations to the 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry Regiment and redeployed to Hawaii.

[edit] Australia

An Australian Surveillance Reconnaissance Vehicle (SRV) patrols outside the perimeter of a forward operating base in Afghanistan on September 17, 2005. (Note: faces digitally blurred)
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An Australian Surveillance Reconnaissance Vehicle (SRV) patrols outside the perimeter of a forward operating base in Afghanistan on September 17, 2005. (Note: faces digitally blurred)
  • Special Forces Task Group

Roughly around 200 soldiers are deployed in the Australian Special Forces Task Group (SFTG), including elements of the Special Air Service Regiment, 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando), the Incident Response Regiment and logistic support personnel. The task group is conducting special operations in support of security and reconstruction efforts in the country. Two CH-47 Chinook helicopters and about 110 personnel from the 5th Aviation Regiment also are deployed to Afghanistan to provide medical evacuation, air mobility and logistic support to coalition partners with priority given to Australian SFTG activity.

Australia also has contributed 240 personnel to the Netherlands-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), Task Force Uruzgan, at Uruzgan in Afghanistan. Known as the Reconstruction Task Force (RTF), the Australian detachment deployed in July and will work on the construction of community-based projects in Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan.

[edit] Great Britain

There are approximately 5,600 British armed forces personnel deployed, 4,300 of which are in the south and 1,300 in Kabul. In the Afghan capital of Kabul, British units include 42 Commando Royal Marines, HQ Group Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, 1 Signal Brigade and 7 Signal Regiment.

  • 3 Commando Brigade

Royal Marines of 3 Commando Brigade recently replaced the Paras of 16 Air Assault Brigade as the bulk of the 3,600 British troops deployed in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Deployed units from 3 Commando include:

The following units are based in Kandahar:

    • HQ 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines
    • Commando Logistic Regiment
    • 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal)
    • 28 Regiment, Royal Engineers
    • 29 Regiment The Royal Logistic Corps
    • 27 Transport Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps
    • 9 Regiment Army Air Corps


  • Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has deployed a Joint Force Harrier detachment from RAF Cottesmore. Based in Kandahar, it provides close air support and reconnaissance to coalition and NATO forces operating in southern Afghanistan. In October 2006, however, the Royal Air Force turned over the task to 800 Naval Air Squadron, in the first operational deployment of the Fleet Air Arm's Harrier GR7 squadrons. These are the deployed Royal Air Force and Royal Navy units:

[edit] Canada

Roughly 2,300 Canadian Forces personnel are deployed in Afghanistan as part of Task Force Afghanistan, which is part of Canada's renewed commitment to the international campaign against terrorism, Operation Archer. With the exception of approximately 85 CF personnel serving with various military and civilian organizations in Kabul and Bagram, all CF assets are based in Kandahar, in the southern region of Afghanistan.


  • Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)*
    • Since August 2005, a Canadian PRT has operated in Kandahar, where it is expected to remain until February 2009. The PRT brings together elements from the Canadian Forces (CF), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and civilian police led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in an integrated Canadian effort known as the “All of Government” approach. Approximately 220 personnel are based at the PRT site at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City and are drawn largely from Land Forces Central Area (LFCA) and 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG) based in Petawawa, Ontario. The PRT includes:
    • The PRT Commander’s Tactical Headquarters Group, which provides protection and mobility to the PRT Commander and his staff
    • A Civil-Military Cooperation Platoon from Land Force Central Area
    • A Military Police Platoon from 2 CMBG in Petawawa
    • Health and medical support from 1 Field Ambulance
    • Service and support elements drawn from across Canada
    • Other specialized elements from various CF units across Canada.
  • Other CF units
    • 250 CF members from all over Canada, in Kandahar, who constitute the National Command Element (NCE)
    • 300 CF members in the National Support Element (NSE) in Kandahar, primarily from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and[2 Service Battalion, also from Petawawa;
    • 250 CF members with the Theatre Support Element (TSE) in Southwest Asia;
    • 70 personnel at the coalition hospital at Kandahar Airfield comprised of personnel from 2 Field Ambulance and 1 Canadian Field Hospital in Petawawa, On., and other Health Services units from across Canada

[edit] Germany

The German contribution to ISAF (3,000 soldiers) is operating in the North of Afghanistan.

[edit] France

The current French Army detachment in Kabul, known as Pamir XIV, is on a five-month deployment that officially began August 6, 2006. It includes the following units.

  • 3rd Mechanized Brigade of Limoges
    • A reconnaissance squadron and a unit of command and logistics of the 1st Battalion, 11th Armored Regiment of Carpiagne
    • A company of the 126th Infantry Regiment of Brive
    • A detachment of the 32nd Engineer Regiment of Castelsarrasin

In 2001 and beginning again in the summer of 2003, 200 soldiers from various units of the Army Special Forces Brigade (BFST), including marine and air commandos, have conducted operations against the Taliban, under command and in co-operation with U.S. special operations forces present in the area. At least three members of a French Special Forces unit have died in southern Afghanistan in the past year.

  • 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine

1st RPIMa (RPIMa standing for Marine Infantry Paratrooper Regiment) is part of the BFST. It was first involved with in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and then again from 2003.

[edit] Lithuania

Source for the involvement of Lithuania: Lithuanian Ministry of Defence site: http://www.kam.lt/index.php/en/27799/?DoFastSearch=1&search=afghanistan

[edit] Netherlands

The Netherlands has deployed 1,400 troops to Uruzgan province at southern Afghanistan at Tarin Kowt (1,200), at Kamp Holland, and Deh Rahwod (200). The soldiers of Task Force Uruzgan are mostly from the 12th Infanterie Bataljon Luchtmobiel Air Assault Regiment Van Heutsz suplemented with soldiers from 44 Pantserinfanteriebataljon (Mechanized infantry) Regiment Johan Willem Friso and the 42th tank battalion Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje. Royal Netherlands Air Force support consists of six F-16 ground-attack aircraft, six Eurocopter Cougar transport helicopters of 300 Squadron and six AH-64 attack helicopters of 301 Squadron.

[edit] New Zealand

New Zealand is maintaining a Provincial Reconstruction Team - Task Group Crib - at Bamian which reports to Task Force Spartan. It has also sent several rotations of New Zealand Special Air Service personnel to Afghanistan.

[edit] Italy

  • 2nd Alpine Regiment

Italy has sent 411 troops, based on one infantry company from the 2nd Alpine Regiment tasked to protect the ISAF HQ, one engineer company, one NBC platoon, one logistic unit, as well as liaison and staff elements integrated into the operation chain of command. Italian forces also command a multinational engineer task force and have deployed a platoon of Italian military police. Three AB-412 helicopters also are deployed to Kabul.


[edit] Norway

The Norwegian forces in Afghanistan consist of one mechanized company, one support squadron and one intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance squadron, all serving with ISAF forces in Kabul. Norway also has previously deployed four F-16 fighter jets and three or four F-16s are set to return to support the ISAF force in Afghanistan later in 2006. One of Norway's special forces units also has served as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, earning a U.S. Presidential Unit Citation in the process.

[edit] Romania

Romania has about 550 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Assigned to ISAF are a 25-member military police platoon, six soldiers at posts in the ISAF command and the Multinational Brigade Command, a 30-soldier intelligence and counterintelligence detachment, all deployed in Kabul, and a C-130 Hercules airplane with 14 crew members and technicians operating from the International Airport in Bucharest. Since July 2003, a detachment of 46 officers and NCOs are deployed in Kabul to assist in training the Afghan National Army. Small teams of Romanian soldiers also serve with the ISAF Provincial Reconstruction Teams around the country.

  • 341st Infantry Battalion

Romania also participates in the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, which is a separate mission from ISAF. The OEF deployment consists of one infantry battalion deployed in Kandahar. The 341st is the battalion deployed. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the battalion's mission consists of surveillance of sensitive points, searching possible locations for Taliban, supporting humanitarian activities, escorting supply convoys, providing security for other coalition forces, and blocking enemy communication lines or retreat routes.

[edit] Upcoming deployments

The Pentagon also recently announced units that will be deploying to Afghanistan as part of the next rotation of units in late 2006.

The paratroopers from the 4th BCT, along with the 82nd Airborne headquarters staff and various unidentified support units, will be a part of a deployment of about 11,000 soldiers.

  • 218th Brigade Combat Team, South Carolina Army National Guard

The 218th BCT will deploy to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Security Forces, beginning in early 2007. The deployment will include 1,500 service members. The Pentagon also has alerted approximately 6,200 active duty soldiers and 600 reservists in combat support and combat service support units smaller than brigade-size elements for deployment beginning in 2007.

  • Poland announced on the 14th September 2006 that it would send an additional 1,000 troops. [1]
  • Canada announced on the 15th September 2006 that it would send an additonal 450 troops
Canadian deployments will included -
An infantry company of the Royal 22e Régiment from Valcartier, Quebec;
A squadron of the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) from Edmonton equipped with fifteen Leopard C2 tanks ;
Military engineers to manage reconstruction and development projects;
A counter-mortar capability to locate Taliban forces that are targeting Canadian Forces installations with indirect mortar fire.
  • It was reported by Jane's Defence Weekly on 15 November 2006 that the British Army's 12th Mechanised Brigade would deploy in May 2007 to replace 3 Commando Brigade. Jane's said it would include 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards and 1 Royal Anglian Regiment, with Warrior support provided by one or two companies of 1 Staffordshire Regiment. 52nd Infantry Brigade headquarters will then deploy in November 2007 to replace 12 Brigade.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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