Combat Footage From Panjwa’i District
Heavy fighting continued in Kandahar province, Panjwa’i District 2008-2011.
Resolute support forces engaged the enemy, making ongoing attempts to take out leaders of the Taliban as in the one below caught on video.
An Afghan-international coalition force used a precision air strike to kill one of the two most senior Taliban leaders in Kandahar Province, and several of his fighters on May 30, 2010 in Panjwa’i district.
“In Kandahar Province, efforts are under way in Zharay, Panjwa’i, and Arghandab districts to protect the people from the insurgency,” U.S. Army Col. Wayne Shanks, ISAF Public Affairs Officer, said.
One of these operations targeted an insurgent commander, Haji Amir, in the Dand district of Kandahar Province. Amir was the second most dangerous insurgent leader in Kandahar and had escaped from Sarposa prison in 2008.
The video shows the precision strike followed by a secondary explosion indicating more explosives were in the building.
Haji Amir was tasked with creating a series of IED obstacles in anticipation of increasing operations in the region. Haji Amir and his fighters had been tracked for several days, and when they stopped at a small unoccupied mud hut in a farming area near the village of Zangabad, the combined force called in the air strike.
The Taliban leader operated throughout Dand, Zhari and Panjwa’i districts. He escaped from Sarposa Prison in a Taliban coordinated prison break in June, 2008.
In another operation, Mullah Zergay, the top Taliban commander for the Kandahar City area, was killed by Afghan-international forces in an operation in Zharay district.
Zergay’s operations, particularly those using explosive devices are directly responsible for the deaths of many Afghans in Kandahar, Arghandab and Zharay districts. He was also involved in violent intimidation, kidnappings and executions of government employees and village elders.
Background
NATO took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003. Mandated by the United Nations, ISAF’s primary objective was to enable the Afghan government to provide effective security across the country and develop new Afghan security forces.
ISAF was first deployed in 2001 on the basis of a request for assistance by the Afghan authorities and a United Nations (UN) Security Council mandate, which authorised the establishment of the force to assist the Afghan government in the maintenance of security in Kabul and its surrounding areas – in particular to enable the Afghan authorities as well as UN personnel to operate in a secure environment.
At that time, the operation was limited to the Kabul area, and its command was assumed by ISAF nations on a rotational basis.
In August 2003, on the request of the UN and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, NATO took command of ISAF. Soon after, the UN mandated ISAF’s gradual expansion outside of Kabul.
From 2011, responsibility for security was gradually transitioned to Afghan forces, which took the lead for security operations across the country by summer 2013. The transition process was completed and Afghan forces assumed full security responsibility at the end of 2014, when the ISAF mission was completed. A new, smaller non-combat mission (“Resolute Support”) was launched on 1 January 2015 to provide further training, advice and assistance to the Afghan security forces and institutions.
Originally deployed to provide security in and around the capital Kabul, ISAF’s presence was gradually expanded to cover the whole country by the second half of 2006. As ISAF expanded into the east and south, its troops became increasingly engaged in fighting a growing insurgency in 2007 and 2008, while trying to help Afghanistan rebuild. In 2009, a new counter-insurgency was launched and 40,000 extra troops were deployed.
Combat Footage From Panjwa’i District
This video features B-Roll from helmet mounted video cameras of various 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment Soldiers. This contains footage of Soldiers returning fire during Insurgent attacks in Panjwa’i District. The location varies from rooftops, village street, and crop field. It also contains footage of Soldiers launching Mortar’s and using the M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon (LAW). Footage was shot in various locations in the Panjwa’i District, Kandahar Province between the months of July 2011 – December 2011.