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The 2006 Dutch/Australian offensive began in late April 2006 and lasted until July 16, 2006. The combined force entered the Taliban controlled Chora and Baluchi areas, north-east of the provincial capital, Tarin Kowt. Their aim was to prevent the Taliban attacking Tarin Kowt, where Dutch and Australian reconstruction troops were setting up a new base.
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The first action of the joint offensive came in late April, when 29 Dutch troops in Lieutenant Marco Kroon's unit, called Taskforce Viper, were sent with 29 Australian SAS to the village of Surk Murgab, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Tarin Kowt. The aim was to find if their was a threat in the village. The answer came soon enough when the coalition troops came under intense fire. This forced the coalition forces to call in air support in order to avoid being pinned down.
Four days later, the Dutch and Australians returned to attempt to secure the village. Again they came under heavy fire, forcing them to break off the action. However, one of the Australian vehicles became stuck and the Taliban brought heavy fire against the Australians. The Dutch managed to divert the Talibans attention with heavy fire which gave the Australians time to recover their vehicle. The coalition troops managed to withdraw.
A month later, the Dutch and Australians moved further north into the Chora Valley. This time the joint force were caught in the open by Taliban mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and 107-millimetre rockets. Kroon decided to break off the action but the Australians were in trouble. Lieutenant Kroon ordered his men to move forward again. This drew fire onto the Dutch, allowing the Australians to evacuate their wounded comrade. With the Australians out of the way, the Taliban turned huge fire on the Dutch."The Australians said afterward that they had not thought Kroon's platoon would make it".
Two weeks later, the coalition troops were back in Chora. Again they encountered the Taliban, with the Australians taking the brunt. Kroon raced towards the Australians, however, in the rough terrain the vehicle rolled over. After Kroon and his crew had crawled out from the vehicle mortars and shells exploded right next to it.
Tougher fighting came as the joint force attempted to block a Taliban supply route. The area provided outstanding cover for ambushes and they soon came under heavy fire from close range. Kroon tried to lead his troops to the rear – a precarious move as his troops had to move through Australian positions in the middle of the firefight, creating a high risk of the allies firing on each other.
The Dutch and Australians finally made it to an emplacement and the action they had just gone through proved to be the harbinger of a long battle. With the temperature rising to more than 50 degrees, the platoon fought the Taliban in the full sun for about 8 hours. After the smoke had cleared, 13 Taliban had been killed.
The final act of the offensive, Operation Chitag, came in mid-July, part of a wider Australia-led offensive aimed at driving the Taliban out of the Chora Valley known as Operation Perth. In pitch black on the night of July 12, the Dutch and Australians found themselves "fighting for their lives". They were surrounded, outnumbered, and their ammunition running out fast. Help came from one of the most lethal weapons in the US arsenal: an AC-130 gunship, a modified Hercules aircraft armed with a 105-millimetre howitzer, 40-millimetre cannon and Gatling guns.
The problem, however, was that the Taliban were within 30 metres of the allies, who risked being hit by the US aircraft firepower as Kroon directed the air attack virtually onto the allies position. "The air around the two platoons was thick with shrapnel but the 40-millimetre and 105-millimetre shells launched by the aircraft had a devastating effect on the Taliban", an official Dutch report says. The two units continued their advance, in an operation that continued for the next four days.
The joint offensive in the Chora and Baluchi areas was deemed a great success. The pass entering the valley was opened and the coalition forces had freedom of movement. The offensive marked weeks of ferocious and chaotic conflict in which up to 300 Taliban fighters were killed, for the loss of only one coalition soldier.[1]