The Battle
Allied Troops launched their offensive over the weekend of the 10th and 11th, little pre-raid bombing took place as to avoid damaging infrastructure in and around the dam. Destruction of the dam would have had grave results for both sides and the Afghan people. This may have been a major reason for the Taliban to not destroy it as they fled. Allied troops came under heavy small arms fire and light heavy arms fire including RPGs and bombs as they advanced towards the dam. Towards the end of the battle, it became obvious that although outnumbered, the ability of allied troops to cut the enemy's supplies was more demoralizing as Taliban forces started to flee the field of battle. Early Monday morning, allied forces carried out a pre-dawn bombing raid on Taliban forces located approximately in between the dam and the town, killing the Taliban commander Mullah Manan. This killing was seen as the straw that broke the camel's back, as not long after chaos ensued amongst the Taliban forces as they made a hasty retreat. This quote from Colonel Tom Collins describes the desperate Taliban retreat:
| “ | During this action ... Taliban extremists resorted to the use of human shields. Specifically, using local Afghan children to cover as they escaped out of the area, | ” |
-Colonel Tom Collins, NATO spokesman.
Read more about this topic: Operation Kryptonite
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