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Operation Enduring Freedom - Operations

Operation Enduring Freedom began on 07 October 2001, four weeks after the 11 September attacks on America. Early combat operations included a mix of air strikes from land-based B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers; carrier-based F-14 and F/A-18 fighters; and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from both U.S. and British ships and submarines.

The first US troops on the ground in Afghanistan were Special Operation Forces who were sent in to engage in one of their specialties: unconventional warfare tactics alongside opposition forces; in this case, anti-Taliban groups. Though details about these covert operations initially were not made public, it didn’t take long for images of horse-mounted soldiers riding with Northern Alliance troops to hit the airwaves.

On Nov. 9 Mazar-e-sharif became the first Afghan city to be released from the Taliban’s grip. In succeeding days, Taloqan, Herat and Shindand were liberated, followed by Kabul--Afghanistan’s capital city on Nov. 13--and Jalalabad on Nov 14.

These victories were credited to coordination among Northern Alliance commanders and Special Forces liaison teams, Coalition air attacks, the rejection by Afghan citizens of Taliban control, and, in some areas, Taliban forces defecting to the opposition to prevent their own destruction.

It wasn’t long after the Northern Alliance’s compounded victories in the north that war planners called on the first conventional forces, U.S. Marines of Task Force 58, to join the fight. On Nov. 25 they seized Objective Rhino, a desert airstrip south of Qandahar, and established a forward operating base (FOB). In addition to establishing the base, a U.S. Marine Corps presence would help “pressure the Taliban forces in Afghanistan,” and “prevent Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists from moving freely about the country,” Rumsfeld said.

During the remaining days of November, Konduz, the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan fell to opposition forces, and Bagram Airfield near Kabul became a forward operating base.

December was just as active: On Dec. 4 the first U.S. Army units deployed to Mazar-e-sharif, and on Dec. 7, Qandahar, the last major Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan surrendered to forces under the command of Hamid Karzai. Marines of Task Force 58 secured Qandahar Airport on Dec. 13.

By mid-month, many of the enemy had been reduced to “pockets” and “pools” of resistance; some hiding in caves, others on the run. Areas of strong enemy resistance in eastern Afghanistan, most notably Tora Bora and Zawar Kili, kept Coalition and opposition forces busy for the remainder of the month.

In one bombing raid at Tora Bora, a plume of smoke was reported to have covered an area of two kilometers after a cave complex filled with enemy munitions was struck.

Through the course of the operation, more than 100 "Sensitive Site" exploitations had been conducted, seeking evidence of Al Qaida/Taliban or weapons of mass destruction. As forces had attacked "Caves and Tunnels" to deny the enemy safe harbor, "Radio Broadcast and Leaflet Programs" had effectively informed the population of US goals and encouraged enemy forces to surrender.

Hamid Karzai was sworn in as the prime minister of the Afghan interim government on Dec. 22, and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established to assist with security in Kabul. By Jan. 3, the ISAF consisted of 4,500 international troops under the command of British Major Gen. John McColl.

In January 2002, as Coalition aircraft bombed an Al Qaeda complex at Zawar Kili, the number of Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees under U.S. control continued to increase. On Jan. 10, the first group of these detainees was flown from Qandahar Airport to Guantanamo, Cuba, where a facility known as Camp X-ray had been prepared to house the detainees. Minutes prior to the first plane’s departure, the airfield received small arms fire. The Marines returned fire and launched a quick reaction force to investigate the shot.

The Marines of Task Force 58 at Qandahar were relieved Jan. 29 in place by elements of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which became known as Task Force Rakkasan (Japanese for “parachute”). Four weeks later at the airport, on Feb. 28, a United Nations’ C-130 transloaded 16 metric tons of humanitarian assistance material to UN vehicles, marking the first UN humanitarian assistance cargo flights into Afghanistan.

The next day, Coalition forces from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway joined U.S. troops in Operation Anaconda, one of the most visible and deadliest operations of the war up to that point. The operation was designed to assault enemy forces in southeastern Afghanistan. When Anaconda concluded, a total of eight American servicemen had been killed and 82 wounded in action.

In mid-May, Gen. Franks established Combined Joint Task Force-180 to provide an on-scene command-and-control structure in Afghanistan. The 18th Airborne Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, was appointed as CJTF-180’s first commander. He assumed responsibilities for the majority of the forces operating in Afghanistan.

At about the same time McNeill moved in to the area of operations, U.S. Special Forces were standing up a new Afghan National Army.

The Air War

The United States prepared target lists and controled the movement of all warplanes in Afghan airspace from the sophisticated operations center 1,000 miles away at Prince Sultan Air Base, near Riyadh. Navy jets were flying 500 miles each way from carriers in the Arabian Sea. Air Force bombers also are flying six-hour round-trip missions from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Air Force fighter bombers are flying from bases in the Persian Gulf, missions that take eight to nine hours.

During Desert Storm, the military flew about 3,000 sorties a day. In Enduring Freedom, the number was down to 200 sorties a day. The head of US Central Command, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, said the 200 sorties a day hit roughly the same number of targets hit with 3,000 sorties in Desert Storm. According to Franks, the US needed about 10 aircraft to take out a single target in Desert Storm, while in Enduring Freedom, a single aircraft was used to take out two targets on average.

Military planners at US Central Command initially calculated that it might take as long as five months before conditions would be ripe for an offensive against Kabul. After only 20 days of airstrikes, Northern Alliance forces began their march on the capital, and captured it 24 hours later.

A total of 211 US Air Force planes used Ukraine's air corridors between 09 October 9 and 07 November 2001, according to the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. During this period, 78 C-17 transport planes, five C-130 and 128 KC-135 tanker aircraft used the Ukrainian corridors, mainly over the neutral waters of the Black Sea where aircraft were refueled. In November and December 2001, US tanker aircraft based in Bulgaria flew about six missions a day to refuel warplanes in the Afghan theater. A Bulgarian military airport in the Black Sea became a de facto U.S. base, with about 200 Americans stationed there. Twenty US military flights to or from Afghanistan cross Romania each day.

As of 23 October 2001 Air Force B-2, B-1 and B-52 bombers from the 28th Air Expeditionary Wing, Diego Garcia had expended more than 80 percent of the tonnage dropped on combat missions over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. The Air Force had flown more than 600 sorties including strike missions against al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan. These targets included early warning radars, ground forces, command and control facilities, al Qaeda infrastructure, airfields and aircraft.

On 20 November 2001 senior officials said that more than 10,000 bombs or missiles had been dropped or fired into Afghanistan during the war, of which over 60 percent were precision-guided munitions. By the end of Novembe 2001, the eight B-1s and ten B-52s operating from Diego Garcia had reportedly dropped most of the 4,700 tons of munitions delivered by the Air Force, comprising 72% of the war's total by that time. The B-1 force was generating four sorties per day, while five B-52s were flying daily. Bomber crews who fly strike missions over Afghanistan from Diego Garcia atoll have quite a drive to get to and from their targets. Each round trip sortie, flown mostly over the vast Indian Ocean, may last from 12 to 15 hours, may involve extended stays over the country, and can be more than 5,500 miles. Including mission planning, each strike is at least a 24-hour affair. Planning is done mostly at night and takes hours. Before a strike, aircrews study flight plans. Most people memorize the bomb run. At Diego Garcia, the support team that keeps the bombers flying works nonstop. As the air campaign entered its fifth week, the people of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Group Munitions Maintenance Squadron were working at a breakneck pace building bombs.

By the end of November 2001, the US Air Force had flown more than 15% of the combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Aircraft employed included the B-1, B-2, B-52, F-15E, F-16 and AC-130H/U. These aircraft had dropped about 10,000 tons of munitions, amounting to more than 75% of the Operation Enduring Freedom total. More than 75% of the munitions expended were precision guided. By the end of November 2001, a total of 600 cluster bombs had been dropped, consisting of 450 BLU-103 and 150 BLU-87 munitions. By the end of November 2001 Air Force support aircraft -- UAVs, RC-135, U-2, E-3, and EC-130E/H -- had flown more than 325 missions.

By early December 2001 C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft were maintaining a nightly air bridge to FOB Rhino south of Kandahar. The C-130's were averaging 10 flights in and out each night. Ultimately, C-17s flew 43 missions into Camp Rhino, delivering 1,450 tons of heavy equipment [such as graders, earth movers and bulldozers] and 419 passengers.

Through the end of air drops in December 2001, Central Command flew some 162 C-17 humanitarian sorties and dropped a total of 2.5 million individual rations.

In the first 76 days of operations -- from 07 October and 23 December, when sustained air operations slowed -- the US flew about 6,500 strike missions over Afghanistan. About 17,500 munitions were expended on over 120 fixed target complexes and over 400 vehicles and artillery guns. A total of Fifty-seven percent of the weapons delivered were precision guided. Navy carrier-based planes flew 4,900 of the 6,500 strike sorties -- 75% of the total. The Air Force, flying 25% of the sorties, delivered 12,900 weapons, over 70% of the total delivered. The B-1 and B-52 bombers flew 10% of the strike sorties, and delivered 11,500 of the 17,500 total munitions expended. The B-1 bombers reportedly dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than any other aircraft, and received recognition as a critical workhorse of the conflict.

As of 10 December 2001 approximately 12,000 bombs and missiles had been used. Of these munitions, about 60 percent were precision-guided bombs or missiles, while the remainder were unguided gravity bombs. As of mid-January 2002 about 4,600 of the 12,000 munitions expended were reportedly the Joint Direct Attack Munition. However, as of mid-January 2002 Vice Adm. John Nathman was reported as stating that more than 90 percent of all bombs dropped were laser-, TV- or satellite-guided munitions [this statement may have reflected only those munitions expended by the Navy].

As of 31 December 2001 the US AWACS fleet had logged 19,711 flight hours for the year, an increase of 4,457 hours over 2000. Almost 3,400 hours were spent flying Noble Eagle missions and another 2,500 on Enduring Freedom operations.

On 07 February 2002 US Central Command commander Gen. Tommy R. Franks testified that 10,000 of the 18,000 bombs, missiles and other ordnance used to date were precision-guided munitions. Of the 10,000 precision munitions, about half were laser-guided bombs and ther other half were GPS satellite guided bombs. U.S. aviation assets had flown over 20,000 sorties to date, with aircraft from US Navy aircraft carriers accounting for half the sorties, and US Air Force assets accounting for the other half. The Tomahawk targeting cycle had been reduced from 101 minutes during Allied Force to 19 minutes during Enduring Freedom, with half of the Tomahawks having been fired from submarines.

Tankers flew nearly 5,000 refueling sorties over Afghanistan between the time operations began on 07 October 2001 and late February 2002. Another 5,000 tanker sorties were flown from 11 September 2001 through late February 2002 to refuel US fighters over the continental US as part of Operation Noble Eagle.

From the start of operations in October through the battle of Shah-i-Kot in March 2002, the US dropped around 20,000 bombs on Afghanistan.

By the end of March 2002 a total of 21,000 bombs and missiles had been dropped, the bulk of them precision-guided, since the American campaign in Afghanistan began in October 2001.

As of mid-September 2002 it was reported that about 12,000 of the 24,000 bombs dropped in Afghanistan were guided munitions. Of that, about 9,000 were equipped with JDAM kits.

Shortly after Army & Air Force Exchange Service [AAFES]-Europe officials got the word from the senior military leadership in Europe that its contingency expertise was needed to support troops headed for Southwest Asia, AAFES moved quickly to establish seven tactical field exchanges (TFEs), all within a two-week period. The TFEs are located in six countries spread across the western region of southwest Asia. As of December 2001 AAFES has sites in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

Operation Anaconda, the largest reported American ground action to date in the Afghan war, was launched on Friday 01 March 2002. More than 1,000 US troops along with about 1,000-1,500 Afghan soldiers and 200 troops from several coalition countries [Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway] were involved. US Army troops included elements from the 10th Mountain Division, the 101st Airborne Division, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and Special Operations forces. They attacked a concentration of several-hundred al-Qaida and Taleban fighters south of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The aircraft flying daily missions over the battlefield -- 10 long-range bombers, 30 to 40 fighters and two to four AC-130 gunships -- was more than half the size of the force used in strikes across Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. More than 350 bombs and missiles had been dropped on targets during the first four days of fighting. US aircraft dropped 190 bombs on Sunday 03 March, more than twice as many as on Saturday 02 March. From 6:30 a.m. Afghan time Saturday through Sunday, more than 270 bombs had been dropped in support of Afghan, US and coalition forces. As of 05 March 2002 over 450 bombs had been dropped. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were hit by enemy fire. By the end of continuous operations in late March, nearly 3,500 bombs had been dropped.

US troops suffered at least eight dead and 40 wounded during the first four days of action in Operation Anaconda in early March. The deaths brought the total number of American troops killed in combat in Afghanistan to least ten, including one Special Forces soldier killed by a sniper and one CIA officer killed in a prison uprising in earlier actions. Friendly fire deaths were three killed in one incident by a bomb dropped from a US warplane. A total of 26 had been killed in accidents, including 21 killed in airplane or helicopter crashes, two in heavy- equipment accidents, one in a shipboard accident, one who fell overboard from a ship, and one from an accidental gunshot.

• On 03 March 2002 an MH-47 Chinook helicopter destroyed in heavy fighting with al-Qaida and Taleban forces in eastern Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven American soldiers. The helicopters were operating at altitudes above 8,000 feet.
• On 12 February 2002 eight US servicemen were injured when an MC-130P refueling plane crash-landed in Afghanistan. DOD declined to specify where the accident occurred. All but one of the eight were able to walk immediately afterward. The other service members' injuries were not life-threatening.
• On 28 January 2002 an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter made a hard landing and was extensively damaged. The helicopter was carrying 24 soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division to an area near Khost. Of the troops on board, 16 were injured.
• On 22 January 2002 an Air Force RQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was reported lost over Afghanistan, in the second confirmed Air Force Predator crash in the campaign. As of 30 November 2001 as many as four Predators had been lost in Afghanistan, all to weather-related or control problems
• On 20 January 2002 a Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53E transport helicopter crashed, killing two and injuring five.
• On 09 January 2002 Marine KC-130 tanker aircraft crashed, killing all seven Marines on board.
• On 09 January 2002 a Navy S-3 Viking tanker aircraft crash-landed aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), though no injuries resulted.
• On 30 December 2001 an Air Force RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance drone crashed while attempting to land in the United Arab Emirates near the end of a combat reconnaissance mission.
• On 12 December 2001 an Air Force B-1B bomber crashed into the Indian Ocean, though the crew was rescued.
• On 20 November 2001 a Marine Corps CH-46 helicopter crash-landed, with four injured
• On 02 November 2001 an Army special operations helicopter crashed due to bad weather, with four injured. The military did not identify type of helicopter involved, but reports suggested that it was either a CH-47, or an MH-53 Pave Low.
• On 02 November 2001 an Air Force RQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was reported lost over Afghanistan, with preliminary reports indicating that severe weather was the likely cause. This loss marked the 20th loss of a Predator air vehicle. This was the second loss of a Predator over Afghanistan due to icing problems.
• On 17 September 2002 an Air Force unmanned Predator spy plane crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, about 20 miles south of the city of Khost. The predator, the fifth lost in the Afghanistan war, crashed in "severe weather."

By mid-August 2002, a total of 38 Americans had been killed in combat and noncombat incidents in Afghanistan, and more than 340 had been wounded.

In the Summer of 2002 western reporters visited eleven locations where civilians were said to be killed by American airstrikes.

• Gardez -- (Nov. 14, 2001, 23 dead)
• Khost -- (Nov. 16, 2001, at least 65 dead)
• Zani Khel -- (Nov. 16, 2001, 20 dead)
• Madoo -- (Dec. 1, 2001, 55 dead)
• Khan-i-Merjahuddin -- (Dec. 1, 2001, 48 dead)
• Asmani and Pokharai -- (Dec. 20, 2001, about 50 dead)
• Niazi Qala -- (Late December 2001, 52 dead)
• Zhawara -- (Feb. 4, 2002, 3 dead)
• Char Chine -- (May 12, 2002, 5 dead)
• Kakrak -- (July 1, 2002, 54 dead)