/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000000056623 rename

Operation Anaconda is the code name for an operation in early March 2002 in which the United States...

Operation Anaconda is the code name for an operation in early March 2002 in which the United States military and CIA Paramilitary Officers working with allied Afghan military forces, attempted to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains southeast of Zormat. This operation was the first large-scale battle in the United States war in Afghanistan since the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. This was the first operation in the Afghanistan theater to involve a large number of U.S. conventional (i.e. non-Special Operations Forces) forces participating in direct combat activities. Between 2 and 16 March 2002 1,700 airlifted U.S. troops and 1,000 pro-government Afghan militia battled between 300 to 1,000 al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters to obtain control of the valley. The Taliban and al-Qaida forces entrenched themselves in caves and ridges in the mountainous terrain and fired on U.S. forces attempting to secure the area with mortars and heavy machine guns. Afghan Taliban commander Maulavi Saifur Rehman Mansoor later led Taliban reinforcements to join the battle. U.S. forces had estimated the strength of the rebels in the Shahi-Kot Valley at 150 to