International Security Assistance Force - ISAF
Order of Battle

As of 9 September 2011, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (NATO-ISAF) in Afghanistan aimed to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for terrorists, to help provide security, and to contribute to a better future for the Afghan people. NATO-ISAF, as part of the overall International Community effort and as mandated by the United Nations Security Council, was working to create the conditions whereby the Government of Afghanistan is able to exercise its authority throughout the country. To carry out its mission, ISAF conducted population-centric counterinsurgency operations in partnership with Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and provided support to the Government and International Community in Security Sector Reform, including mentoring, training and operational support to the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. NATO-ISAF key priorities in Afghanistan were: Protect the Afghan people; Build the capacity of the Afghan Security Forces so they can take lead responsibility for security in their own country; Counter the insurgency; and enable the delivery of stronger governance and development.

The security gains noted in March 2011, enabled by the surge in ISAF and Afghan forces throughout 2010, were reported to have been sustained and expanded through September 2011. Combined Afghan National Security Forces and ISAF (ANSF-ISAF) success in consolidating security gains in previously-cleared areas confirmed that the civil-military counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy had significantly degraded the insurgency’s capability, particularly in Helmand and Kandahar. ANSF-ISAF operations had widened the gap between the insurgents and the population in several key population centers, limiting insurgent freedom of movement, disrupting safe havens in Afghanistan, and degrading insurgent leadership. Continued, partnered COIN operations by ANSF and ISAF forces, complemented by partnered Special Forces targeting of insurgent leaders, reduced enemy attacks and violence in Regional Commands Southwest, West, and North. Overall, enemy attacks through September 2011 nationwide were 5 percent lower than the same period in 2010, and attacks continued to decline.

The bulk of ISAF's forces were spread among 6 regional commands, Regional Command Capital (RC-C), Regional Command East (RC-E), Regional Command North (RC-N), Regional Command South (RC-S), Regional Command South West (RC-SW), and Regional Command West (RC-W). Each command had a designated lead nation. The lead nation for RC-C was Turkey. The lead nation for RC-E, RC-S, and RC-SW was the United States. The lead nation for RC-N was Germany. The lead nation for RC-W was Italy. ISAF also had a separate command for assigned special operations forces. In addition, ISAF ran the NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan (NTM-A), which was commanded by a US General who also served as the commander for the US Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A). ISAF's Joint Command (IJC) was commanded by a US General who also served as the commander of US Forces - Afghanistan (USFOR-A).

As of 9 September March 2011, ISAF consisted of approximately 130,670 personnel from 48 nations. This coalition included contributions from 28 NATO member nations, as well as 20 non-NATO member nations. NATO member and non-NATO member nations operated a total of 28 Provincial Reconstruction Teams throughout the country. National caveats for ISAF troops required that coalition partners and international troops operated in a manner consistent with their specific national laws and policies. Regardless of national caveats, all ISAF coalition partners within Afghanistan operated according to the ISAF Rules of Engagement. International force levels and pledged contributions had begun to decline. Many major European partners had announced during 2011 that they planned to withdraw significant portions of their contributions between then and the planned NATO withdrawal in 2014. The Canadian's had followed through with their plans to reduce their force significantly and refocus on the local training mission. The Dutch had also followed through with their planned reductions, with less than 200 personnel remaining in country.

NOTES

1 - Total ISAF and other force numbers potentially include overlapping rotations and other operational fluctuation.

2 - The Air Task Force is headquartered at KAIA, but provides aircraft to dispresed locations throughtout the 5 Regional Commands. Aircraft might not be located at KAIA.

3 - Task Force Thunderbird is headquartered at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, Laghman Province, but conducts operations in other provinces, including Panjshir, and the western districts of Nuristan provinces.

4 - The locations indicated for these Combat Aviation Brigades represent the locations of the Brigade's headquarters. The units assigned to the brigade are dispersed throughout the areas of Afghanistan where the United States is engaged.

5 - The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade began redeploying to the United States in mid-March 2011.

6 - Combined Team - Uruzgan is a composite element that includes elements from the United States, Australia, Singapore, the Slovak Republic and New Zealand. It also initially included transitional representation from the Netherlands during their departure in summer 2010.

7 - Though colocated with Combined Team - Uruzgan, the Australian Special Operations Task Group is not subordinate to it and operates at various locations around Afghanistan as part of NATO Special Operations Forces in the region.

8 - Combined Team - Zabul is a composite element that includes elements from the United States and Romania.

9 - The maneuver components of the Danish battle group are under the operational control of the British Task Force Helmand.

10 - 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment replaced 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment during the first week of September 2011.

11 - Task Force Raider West is detached from the rest of Task Force Raider, in RC-S.