The siege of Musa Qala took place between July 17 and September 12, 2006 in Afghanistan's Helmand province. A small force of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops and Afghan security forces were besieged by Taliban insurgents inside the district centre of Musa Qala.
Situation in Musa Qala
Musa Qala ("the fortress of Moses") is the capital of Musa Qala District, lying on the banks of the Musa Qala River, a tributary of the Helmand River. Its population was variously estimated at 15,000 or 20,000, who for the most part belong to the Alizai Pashtun tribe, which is itself divided into six principal clans. Infighting between clans is a common occurrence, as they compete for power and resources.
In 2001, when the US-led intervention drove the Taliban from power, the local tribesmen accepted the advent of the Karzai administration, and they convinced the Taliban not to conduct guerrilla warfare in their area. Without popular support, the Taliban were forced to abandon Musa Qala and take refuge in nearby villages. However, the local people gradually became disillusioned with the central government. In 2003, the governor of Helmand province, Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, conducted a raid into the village of Akhtak, in Baghran District, where insurgents were sheltering, killing 80 people, most of which were civilians. The governor pledged to pay compensation to the relatives of the deceased, but never kept his promise. Promises of reconstruction were not kept either, and the tribesmen were angered by the corruption and thievery of local officials. By 2006, the Taliban had regained much of their influence in Musa Qala, a development which they attributed to the depredations of governor Akhundzada and his militias.Giustozzi, p.60
Deployment of ISAF troops
In 2006, the ISAF mandate was expanded to include the restive provinces of southern Afghanistan. Helmand became the responsibility of a primarily British unit, Task Force Helmand. Due to his involvement in the opium trade and links with the insurgency, the British insisted that Governor Akhundzada be removed from his post. His replacement, engineer Mohammad Daoud lacked local support, and as Akhundzada's militias had become inactive, the Taliban hastened to fill the power vacuum, and the situation rapidly deteriorated.Giustozzi, p.63
On May 18, 2006, insurgents attacked the Afghan National Police (ANP) force in Musa Qala, killing 20 policemen.Bishop, p.52 The British Pathfinder Platoon was deployed to Musa Qala for five days to assist the police before being replaced by an American unit. On June 14, they were ordered to return to Musa Qala. The 25-man Pathfinder Platoon, commanded by Major Nick Wight-Boycott, was primarily a mobile reconnaissance unit, and thus were not best suited for garrison duties. However, the Battle Group's resources were already stretched and there were no other units available.
The Musa Qala district centre was a cluster of low cement and mud buildings surrounded by a 10-foot wall. Situated in the middle of the town, it housed the local police headquarters, a prison and a clinic built by the Americans. The Pathfinders took over a building in the center of the compound and emplaced three sangars (fortified posts), with one on the roof of their building, one facing east towards the market, and one on a building just outside the compound walls. The tallest building in the district centre was the prison, which was soon nicknamed "the Alamo" by the Pathfinders, who sited a .50 calibre machine gun on its roof.Bishop, p.153 An 80-man Afghan National Police detachment also garrisoned the district centre. The ANP were hated by the local population, who accused them of thievery and pedophilia. The leader of the ANP contingent, whose name was Abdul Wulley, was known to the British and the Taliban alike as "Coco". A veteran of Afghanistan's 30 years of war, and himself a former Taliban member, Coco regularly communicated with the insurgents, and had extensive knowledge of their movements.Bishop, p.154 The police in Musa Qala were, the British noted, undisciplined and slack about their duties,Bishop, p.158 but they were also more than willing to fight the insurgents.Bishop, p.53 and p.158
Two weeks after the arrival of the Pathfinders, an American convoy was ambushed in the nearby green zone, and several vehicles were lost. The Americans responded with massive firepower, including an airstrike from a B-1 bomber and attacks by AH-64 Apache helicopters. Following this incident, the population of Musa Qala began to flee and British intelligence suggested the Taliban had encircled the district centre. However, on the next day, coalition jets conducted low-level flyovers over the town, and no Taliban attack occurred, though some small arms fire struck the base. The Pathfinders were joined by 6 Platoon, B Company, 3 PARA (the Guards Parachute Platoon), freeing them to conduct patrols through the town, and by July 1, the population had gradually returned to their homes.Bishop, p.156
On July 6, the Pathfinders were scheduled to be replaced by G battery, 7 Para RHA, who were supposed to drive into Musa Qala through the green zone. The Pathfinders escorted the ANP contingent in their Land Rover WMIK in order to secure the route, but when they were fired upon by insurgents, the policemen broke formation to engage their enemies, and the operation broke down in confusion. After a similar attempt on the next day also failed, the Guards Parachute Platoon were flown out and a mixed force of 20 gunners from I Battery, 7 RHA, 15 engineers, five Danish and ten Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were flown in. The engineers were put to work consolidating the defenses of the base with locally-purchased materials.Bishop, p.159
The siege "Most of the fighters weren't real Taleban. There were some outsiders, but most were local men who were angry with the Government, its robbery and corruption, who were persuaded to fight against the foreign infidels by our preachers in the mosques."Wakil Haji Mohammed Naim, Musa Qala elder At one o'clock on July 17, 2006, the British garrison observed several figures approaching the district centre through their night vision devices. Shortly afterward, the Taliban opened fire with a volley of four or five RPGs followed by small-arms fire. The Pathfinders returned fire with their SA80 rifles, machine-guns and 51 mm mortars. Major Wight-Boycott ordered an artillery strike on a nearby building where a group of insurgents had taken refuge. The building, which happened to be a mosque, was heavily damaged by the strike, and a large number of Taliban were killed. When "Coco" the police chief reported that Taliban trucks were moving down a nearby wadi, the garrison called for an airstrike that destroyed one of the trucks. Two insurgents were subsequently killed by machine-gun fire as they were seen crawling towards the base. British intelligence suggested the Taliban had taken heavy losses, and in a report filed the next day, Wight-Boycott hoped he had given them a "bloody nose". This, however, did not prevent the Taliban from regrouping and again advancing towards the district centre on the night of July 19. The defenders called an artillery fire mission, and several aircraft flew overhead, deterring the insurgents from attacking. After this, the Taliban returned every evening to launch limited harassment attacks.
By this time, the Pathfinders had spent six weeks in the field, and they were beginning to show signs of exhaustion, while their equipment was becoming worn by constant use in difficult conditions. They were due to be relieved by the Danish light reconnaissance squadron, a 140-man force equipped with Mowag Eagle armoured vehicles. The Danish forces, accompanied by some British signals specialists, departed Camp Bastion on July 21. As the relief force approached Musa Qala from the west, the Pathfinders observed groups of Taliban regrouping to ambush them, and directed a Harrier GR7 strike against the insurgents, killing several.Bishop, p.162 The Taliban had blocked the road with barrels, and attacked the Danish column from three sides with machine guns and RPGs. The column halted when one Eagle was destroyed by a mine and its three crewmen were wounded, and, after having directed an airstrike from a B-1 bomber against Taliban positions, it withdrew into the desert, much to the dismay of the Pathfinders. The garrison had now run out of food and water, and were reduced to drinking goat's milk, while their ammunition was also running low, and they had no more batteries for their night vision devices. The Taliban chose July 24 to launch their largest attack thus far against the district centre, in the form of a concerted assault by 300 militants against every side of the base. The attack opened with an RPG strike that destroyed one of the sangars, causing a Danish soldier to fall outside of the compound. Private Mark Wilson of the Pathfinders used an old bedstead to climb the compound wall and help the injured Dane to safety under enemy fire, for which he was later awarded the Military Cross.Bishop, p.164 Air support took 90 minutes to arrive, during which the base was subjected to continuous fire, which would have been even heavier if the Danish column had not intercepted Taliban reinforcements approaching from Now Zad.
On July 26, after coalition aircraft dropped six 1,000-pound bombs on known Taliban positions, the relief force finally broke into Musa Qala. There were no casualties, except for a Pathfinder sergeant who was accidentally shot by an ANP guard. A Danish officer, Major Lars Ulslev Johannesen, took over command of the district centre. On July 27, an airstrike mistakenly destroyed the mosque adjoining the base, infuriating the police chief and the town elders. Major Johannesen had to convene a shura and promise that the mosque would be rebuilt at the coalition's expense. When asked whether the inhabitants should evacuate the town, Johannesen answered that they should stay, but over the following days, the population gradually abandoned their homes, leaving the area as a battleground between the Taliban and the ISAF coalition.
Relief of the Pathfinders Operation Nakhod The long-overdue evacuation of the Pathfinders remained a priority for the British. The first attempt, code-named Operation Nakhod, was made on August 1, but ended in failure. The relief force, consisting of a patrol of D Squadron, Household Cavalry Regiment, was ambushed on the outskirts of the town. A Spartan APC was destroyed by a roadside bomb, killing the patrol commander, Captain Alex Eida, and two soldiers, Second Lieutenant Ralph Johnson and Lance-Corporal Ross Nicholls. A Scimitar scout vehicle that came to their rescue was destroyed by multiple RPG hits, forcing its crew to bail out. The crew's commander, Corporal Mick Flynn, took charge of the survivors, and gave covering fire to Lance-Corporal Andrew Radford as he rescued an injured colleague. For their actions, they were later respectively awarded the Military Cross and the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. A company of British paratroops was later airlifted to the area to recover the bodies and destroy any sensitive equipment.Bishop, p.166 The British drew several lessons from the failure of Operation Nakhod. The Household Cavalry, operating in their traditional role of long-distance armoured reconnaissance units, were commanded by the brigade headquarters in Kandahar, whose lack of situational awareness and vague orders had contributed to the setback. As a result, they were transferred to the battle group, and the idea of employing armoured units without infantry support in built-up areas was abandoned.Fergusson, p.244-245 The failed operation also demonstrated that the Taliban firmly controlled the area surrounding Musa Qala, and that nothing short of a full battle group operation could relieve the garrison.
Operation Snakebite