Battle of Panjwaii

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Battle of Panjwaii
Part of the War on Terrorism
Canadian soldiers fire on Taliban fighters during the July phase of the Battle of Panjwaii.
Date First Phase: July 2006 Second Phase: Sept. 2006-Oct. 2006 Location Panjwaii district, Southern Afghanistan Result Canadian Victory. Panjwaii cleared of Taliban masses.
Combatants
Canada, Afghan National Army	Taliban insurgents
Commanders
B.General David Fraser	Local Taliban commanders
Strength
2,000	800-1,500
Casualties
Canada: 16 killed, 50+ wounded U.S.: 1 killed	1,000 killed (according to NATO); Taliban rejects this claim.

The Battle of Panjwaii was a battle fought during two periods in the summer of 2006 primarily involving Canadian and Afghan soldiers being supported with some Dutch, American, and British forces. There were two separate times in which the forces were involved in heavy fighting in the region. The first phase was fought in July of 2006, and the second encounter lasted from September to October 2006.

[edit] The First Battle of Panjwaii. Operation Mountain Thrust

In mid July of 2006, Canadian and Afghan forces involved with Operation Mountain Thrust came into the Panjwaii area to help clear the area of Taliban strongholds. For three days on and around July 12 heavy fighting in mud wall complexes broke out. Canadian and Afghan forces on the offensive quickly gained control of the battlefield while heavy fighting was still ongoing.

During this time, Canadian forces were called upon to help relieve a group of British soldiers who were being pinned by Taliban militants in a fierce battle. But because of the distance the British were from the Canadian forces at the time, it slowed the process of Canadian operations in the area of operations in the Panjwaii region. After days of heavy fighting, and a Canadian soldier killed in action, the area was effectively cleared of Taliban militants operating in large groups.

[edit] Operation Medusa Panjwaii Combat

After the fighting in July, Canadian and Afghan forces left the Panjwaii region and it once again became a Taliban stronghold and a thorn in the side of Canadian forces in Kandahar province when the Taliban once again poured into the district. The beginning of September saw the beginning of much more intense fighting in the Panjwaii region again. And once again it was Canadians spearheading the Operation. Canadian forces on the first day strategically surrounded the Taliban and called in heavy artillery and air strikes while taking no casualties themselves. On the second day Canadians took a big loss though. Four soldiers were killed in two attacks. Three were killed while assaulting a Taliban position and one was killed in a bomb attack. The day after was another deadly day, a Canadian soldier was killed and more than thirty others were wounded when an American A-10 accidentally strafed Canadian troops who had called in air support while fighting the Taliban. For the next few weeks there was more heavy fighting on a daily basis and the Taliban who had begun fighting the battle in a conventional way of trenches started to retreat from the battlefield. Canadian forces then faced sporadic resistance until the Panjwaii was once again taken under Canadian control. But casualties did not stop there. Reconstruction efforts began immediately and small cells of Taliban fighters returned to their deadly tactics of suicide and roadside bombings.

Canadian soldiers fire a C6 GPMG at Taliban fighters in Panjwaii.

[edit] "The Road to Panjwaii"

After major combat operations of Operation Medusa had ceased, the reconstruction efforts began. One project in particular has become a deadly and dangerous effort to help the local economy grow. Canadian Forces began the construction of a road, code-named "Summit", from the Panjwaii area to outlying areas including Kandahar city. The purpose of this road was to help the local economy grow by making access to the region much easier. Roadside bombs, booby traps and ambushes targeting engineers who were building the road cost the lives of six Canadians. On October 3rd, Sgt. Craig Gillam and Cpl. Robert Mitchell were killed when the Taliban ambushed an Observation Post which had been set up in the area. Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan have said that the quick thinking of Sgt. Gillam helped save the lives of numerous more Canadians during the attack. On November 21st, two Canadian soldiers were injured, one very seriously, when an anti-personnel mine was triggered. The most seriously wounded soldier was airlifted to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany with wounds to his lower body that were classed as very serious, but not life threatening. It is unclear as to whether or not the mine was a newly planted one, or an older mine that had been surfaced due to recent heavy rain.

Canadian soldiers engage Taliban militants in South Afghanistan.

[edit] Civilian toll

The Battle of Panjwaii was very light on the side of civilian casualties. Many of the civilians left the area before Canadian and Afghan troops moved in. The fighting during Operation Medusa was more conventional (e.g. trenches and "spider holes") than most combat in Afghanistan, and civilians were evacuated out of the combat zones for the most part. This did not stop the Taliban from using houses belonging to civilian populations for cover, resulting in the destruction of several homes. In late October, a British unit operating in the area called in an airstrike on a confirmed Taliban gathering and NATO jets attacked. The bombs killed more than sixty people, most of which the Taliban fighters claimed were civilians intentionally targeted by NATO. This claim was disputed by NATO commanders in Afghanistan who after a short investigation of the site came to their own conclusion that the majority of those killed were, in fact, Taliban fighters. NATO did however confirm that a large number of civilians were killed in the attack and quickly made a public apology for the deaths.

[edit] Post Medusa Panjwaii

After the fighting of Operation Medusa came to an end, the Taliban were no longer in the district in any large numbers, but attacks were still occuring fairly regular against the Canadian Forces. Mortar and bomb attacks as well as some gun battles were a stark reminder that the Taliban, although no longer massed, were still a very real, very deadly threat. Bomb attacks in November have claimed the lives of two more Canadian, and one American soldier in the area. On December 2nd, a squadron of Canadian Leopard C2 tanks which were deployed from Canada as reinforcements during the Operation Medusa fighting made their way from the Kandahar Airfield to a Canadian Forward Operating Base in the Panjwaii district. The Canadian tanks are the heaviest piece of equipment both in weight, and firepower that have been seen in the Panjwaii district since the Soviet fighting during the 1980s. The day after being deployed to the forward operating base, the first shots from a Canadian tank in a combat zone since the Korean War were fired. Taliban fighters attacked the Canadian base with rockets and quickly had cannon fire from the Leopard tanks being directed at them.

Canadian Leopard C2 tanks fire on Taliban fighters at FOB MA'SUM GHAR in the Panjwaii district in Afghanistan. These are the first shots fired by Canadian tanks in a combat zone in more that 50 years.