Operation Medusa - Aftermath

Aftermath

A day after NATO declared victory a suicide bomber in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province killed four Canadian soldiers while they were on a security patrol. While the operation was going on, in other attacks by the Taliban, in the same period, four American and four British soldiers were killed along with dozens of Afghan soldiers and police, and dozens of civilians. Military operations of Operation Medusa did not stop on September 17 though. The seventeenth was the date that the major combat of the operation ended. After that the next phases of operation Medusa began which included reconstruction of infrastructure and roadways, combined with efforts to help the local people return home and link the regional economy to the rest of the country.

Although suffering a brutal battlefield defeat, the Taliban retained their presence in Kandahar province and did not lose their will to fight. On October 6, 2006 anonymous commanders from five NATO countries, were demanding their governments "get tough" with Pakistan over the alleged support and sanctuary the Pakistani Interservices Intelligence (ISI) provided to the Taliban during operation Medusa. Despite the end of combat operations, heavy fighting continued in the area. In the last week of October 2006, dozens of civilians were reported killed in ISAF operations. A local council member was quoted as stating, "The government and the coalition told the families that there are no Taliban in the area any more. If there are no Taliban, then why are they bombing the area?"

At the start of the battle, NATO said there were no reports of civilian casualties, despite the heavy amount of firepower being used. Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi, citing intelligence reports, said 89 suspected Taliban militants and an uncertain number of civilians had been killed during the first two days of fighting in Panjwayi district. It was not immediately possible to gain independent confirmation of the casualty reports, as the government had ordered vehicles off the roads leading to Panjwayi during the operation. A NATO statement said its troops reported dozens of insurgents killed during the first day of the operation. It said many more had been wounded, and a significant number arrested. The tough military action had brought with it a risk of civilian deaths. Besides the physical injuries, many Coalition soldiers suffered from mental problems.

In the months following Operation Medusa, Afghan and international concern over the number of civilians killed in the assault. In particular, in October a NATO investigation into an airstrike found that 31 civilians were killed, including 20 people in a single extended family. On 3 January 2007, a NATO spokesman acknowledged that "The single thing that we have done wrong — and we are striving hard to improve on next year — is killing innocent civilians." The follow-up operation, Operation Falcon Summit, generally did not involve such heavy firepower, instead using small infantry units searching villages in co-operation with tribal elders.