Battle of Wanat - Background

Background

In 2008, NATO forces in southeastern Afghanistan deployed sub-company-sized patrols to the Pakistan border to disrupt supplies flowing to the Taliban from the Federally Administered Tribal Regions of Pakistan. They established small patrol bases, which came under regular attack by Taliban forces.

In June, a small contingent of 48 American and 24 Afghan troops, 72 in total, were operating in and around Wanat, a mountain Quam that was the center of the Waygal District government and about five miles from the coalition military base Camp Blessing. On July 4, a U.S. Army helicopter mistakenly attacked and killed 17 civilians, including all of the doctors and nurses at a local clinic, infuriating local Afghans. Five days before the attack, on July 8, a platoon from the Second Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team established Vehicle Patrol Base (VPB) Kahler and a separate observation post called "OP Top Side" near Wanat. 8 July, 2d Platoon, Chosen Company, departed from Camp Blessing after sunset in a ground assault convoy for the 90 minute long drive to Wanat. The convoy contained five M1114 armored Humvees. There was one for each of the three rifle squads, a vehicle for platoon headquarters, and the last vehicle containing the TOW missile squad. The Humvees mounted heavy weapons, two with 50-cal machine guns, and two with MK-19 40mm automatic grenade launchers in protected cupolas to provide extra firepower and protection. Their goal was to create a Combat Outpost (COP) to connect with and provide security for the local populace, coordinate $1.4 million in reconstruction projects, and disrupt Taliban activity. The brigade was to be relieved by a newly arriving U.S. Army unit in two weeks.

The patrol base was situated on an open field about 300 meters long by 100 meters wide surrounded on two sides by buildings which composed the Quam. July 9, a six man engineer squad arrived by Chinook helicopter. They brought a Bobcat loader and a shipping container with engineer equipment. The soldiers reinforced the base with existing terrain, sandbags, barbed wire, and used the Bobcat to fill a number of HESCO barriers (essentially wall-sized sandbags) around the three squad positions and to create a firing pit for the big 120-mm mortar. However the Bobcat broke down for one day, and could not lift high enough to place barriers to a 7-foot height, but were placed to just a 4-foot level, which would make it vulnerable to direct fire from guns or rockets which the attackers would exploit. The troops dug many of the fortifications and trenches with hand shovels. Still in preparation at the time of the attack, some areas were only protected by a barrier of concertina wire, but with no posts or stakes, the wire was just placed on the ground.

The Afghan company contracted to bring heavy construction equipment delayed its arrival to until 13 July. It was decided that soldier labor with the aid of an engineer squad and a Bobcat front end loader already at Bella would be good enough to prepare an initial defense in the six days until heavier equipment arrived. The number of men at the base was judged enough to defend against intelligence estimates that placed the insurgent forces in the local area at only about 150 experienced fighters, though they did not know that attackers would be backed up by Al Qaeda and other guerilla groups from neighboring regions as far away as Pakistan and Kashmir. While they thought it was possible the base might be attacked while the camp was being prepared, they thought it unlikely. Platoon Sergeant Dzwik later remarked "I was expecting harassing fire from any one of the high ground in every direction. I did not think the village itself would let the AAF turn their village into a battle zone.

Soldiers at the base noticed warning signs, including groups of men watching the construction from the nearby village, which was set at a higher elevation than the outpost, and other groups of men moving through nearby mountains. At a dinner meeting in the village, a villager told the Americans that they should shoot any men seen in the mountains, and asked them if U.S. UAVs were keeping watch nearby. The day before the attack, the militants began flowing water through an irrigation ditch feeding an unused field, creating background noise that masked the sounds of the advancing fighters.

Although the Americans believed that 100 or 200 attacked the base, a senior Afghan defence ministry official who did not reveal his name told Al Jazeera that he had information it was between 400 and 500 fighters. Tamim Nuristani, former governor of Nuristan believed that numerous Taliban and Pakistani militant and terrorist groups banded together from surrouding region including Kunar and in the Bajaur tribal agency in neighboring Pakistan. Participating groups included Taliban, al-Qaeda, Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan-based,(as of 2013 still located in 1 of many strongholds in the Bajaur agency of F.A.T.A.-Federally administered Tribal areas in Kunar and Nuristan of Afghanistan), Hezb-i-Islami. Al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, were thought, by most intelligence analysts, to shelter in the region. Taliban spokesman stated "The fighting in Afghanistan is getting heavier. When the Americans drop bombs on civilians ordinary people want revenge - that's why they are joining the Taliban, strengthening us" pointing out their "ability to enter the bases and kill Americans." A NATO spokesman believed that the Taliban had moved into and expelled a nearby Khel,(small village-tribe subdivision), for the attack. On the evening of July 12, Taliban soldiers moved into Wanat and ordered the villagers to leave. Undetected by the I.S.A.F./A.N.S.F. soldiers, they set up firing positions inside Kors and a mosque next to and overlooking the perimeter.