Operation Moshtarak: finally working together?
Updated on 01 March 2010
Operation Moshtarak is different to other operations in the Afghan war because of the role taken by Afghan troops, writes former Paratrooper and video journalist Josh Fortune.
Josh Fortune is a former paratrooper who is now working for NATOchannel.tv as a video journalist. He has been in Afghanistan since April 2008.
"They look awfully like UFOs," I thought, looking up at the six glowing lights in the sky, which were hanging ominously above us several kilometers away like some sort of silent sentinels.
They were the next wave of Canadian and British Chinook helicopters, preparing to swoop down and deliver their load of Afghan and British soldiers into Northern Nad Ali to mark the start of Operation Moshtarak – which means "together" in Dari, one of the primary languages spoken in Afghanistan.
Moshtarak was supposed to herald the first truly joint operation where Afghan and ISAF forces would live, work, and fight alongside each other in clearing out the Taliban and bringing security to parts of central Helmand.
I must admit that prior to the mission I was sceptical. I had been involved in the heli-borne air assault on Operation Khanjar last summer, where 4,000 Marines were dropped into parts of Southern Helmand. That operation was supposed to be joint as well.
However, it rapidly became clear to me that in the area I was in the only Afghan presence was a couple of token border police. They had very little role in the proceedings and only ever seemed to hinder the Marines as opposed to helping them.
After two years over here – and many operations in Helmand - my cynical edge seemed intent on telling me that Moshtarak would be more of the same, that the Afghan forces would have little effect, and that ISAF would be doing all the work with the Afghan soldiers unwillingly riding the coat tails of their coalition counterparts.
The eerie lights in the sky wheeled into the Camp Bastion helipad, and the Estonian and Afghan soldiers I was embedded with began to make their way to their assigned Chinook.
As we ran towards the overwhelming heat and noise of the Chinook, I struggled to think of any time in the past that I had heard of Afghan and ISAF forces involved in an air assault together – I had certainly never seen anything like it, and I doubted that it had ever happened on such a large scale before.
The ride to our LZ (or Landing Zone) was a brief one, and after six or seven minutes of staring into the dimly lit face of the Afghan soldier sitting opposite me, an Estonian soldier pounded my shoulder and bellowed "ONE MINUTE" in my ear.
I put my thumb up and duly passed the message on down the line. The Chinook touched down, and we all bundled out – into thick, wet mud.
More coverage of Operation Moshtarak
- Tpr Sheppard: IED group caught
- Tpr Sheppard: identifying insurgents on the frontline
- Tpr Sheppard: rest after ten days fighting the Taliban
- Embedded with British troops in Helmand
In the darkness I looked about, wondering if any film crew from "You've Been Framed" were lurking nearby, catching this spectacle on camera.
I fell over twice in the 20 meter "sprint" from the back of the helicopter, and judging by the cursing that I could hear going on around me many soldiers, who were laden down like pack donkeys with all their equipment, were faring no better than I.
We had been inserted into an area of Nad Ali known as the Chang-jir Triangle. In March last year, I had spent two weeks there with the Estonian company on a much smaller operation.
There had been frequent fighting, with up to five or six firefights with the enemy every day. I was fairly apprehensive about going back to this place, as we had all had some close calls last year.
As the soldiers began to clear the village, making their way towards their objective (which was a compound on the northern edge of the village), something began to bother me. It took me an hour or so to put my finger on the cause of this disquiet – the Afghan soldiers were actually doing their job.
Forgive my surprise, but so frequently have I seen unwilling patrols, where the Afghans seem more intent on making it back to base for lunch than looking for any insurgents, that this sights before me was pleasantly astounding.
The soldiers here were actively speaking to the local people, being the first ones into any compound or house that needed to be searched. They were moving professionally, carrying their weapons properly and positioning themselves ready for any trouble that came.
As we walked through the streets, I had to keep pinching myself. One year before I had been crouched in an alleyway, looking despairingly at the splashes of dust being kicked up by incoming enemy fire in the road that I was about to have to run across.
Now these streets were teeming with local people, with children swarming all over the Afghan and Estonian soldiers. A real sense of peace was in the air.
There was no Taliban activity that day, nor for the next few days. I didn't hear so much as one gunshot or one IED explosion for the several days that I was with them. Daily patrols were sent out, where the Afghan soldiers would go and speak to the local people.
"This is how it's meant to be," remarked the Estonian Company Commander Sergei Guselnikov. "They [the ANA] are supposed to be talking to the local people and dealing with them, and we are to just let them do their thing."
The Estonian Company here are part of the 1 Royal Welsh Battlegroup – the battlegroup that make up the majority of the 500 extra troops pledged by Gordon Brown.
The fact that these troops were able to go into Nad Ali and provide security for the local people, and partnership with the Afghan National Army has demonstrated the importance of extra soldiers, and the commitment needed from NATO nations to provide the boots on the ground that are needed to get the Afghan National Security Forces up to par.
Operation Moshtarak is just the start – and there will be challenges, but for the first time in my two years here I can honestly say that I have hope for the future of this country and its army.
