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The focus of this book is the resurgence of the Taliban at the time that Canada, the UK and several other countries committed themselves to the expansion of ISAF into the South. It is necessary to recall that the US had conducted operations in Afghanistan with an economy of effort while it ramped up and conducted its operations in Iraq. During 2004 and 2005 things were relatively quiet in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand because neither the US nor the Taliban had much of a presence there; especially in Helmand. Relatively, however, is a relative term in itself. The area was rife with the struggle between rival warlords and drug gangs for dominance of the growing drug trade.
US intelligence was not sleeping. It knew about the problems and understood that the Taliban were rebuilding and, in time, would eventually attempt to reassert themselves from their sanctuaries in Pakistan. Other NATO countries, however, while cognizant of the US’s intelligence, were more optimistic and focused on reconstruction. As such, they deployed Provincial Reconstruction Teams that were more robust than their US predecessors’ even if not backed by the same financial resources. They gave their respective battle groups the role of supporting PRT efforts. The conventional wisdom amongst the Brits and Canadians (and others) was that their forces would not be engaged in substantial combat.
Unfortunately the winter of 2005/2006 resulted in a perfect storm of circumstances. Karzai was persuaded by the West to remove several key leaders in the South because of their corruption. Unfortunately, those leaders had commanded several important militia groups that had maintained stability. Their replacements didn’t. Not only did the Afghan central government lose this militia support but often found it arrayed against them. The West’s insistence to stamp out the drug trade caused further consternation in the South in that not only warlords but common farmers saw eradication efforts as a major attack on their economy. The result was a fertile base for the Taliban to expand into. Operation RIVER DANCE, conducted before the British deployed, but certainly in large part on their insistence, subsequently caused enormous problems for their lightly armed and equipped task force. Finally, the Taliban were substantially ready; shadow governments were up and running, and returning Afghan and foreign Islamist fighters were moving into Helmand and the Panjwaii in ever growing numbers.
The time frame of this novel comes immediately before Regional Command South transitioned from the US commanded Operation ENDURING FREEDOM to the NATO commanded ISAF on July 31st. The Allied units portrayed existed and the events of this novel generally follow the actual battles as they occurred. While there is a real ODA 053, ODA 952 and 2nd Company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 205th ANA Corps, the characters of those units depicted here and their actions are fictitious. Other characters and actions are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. There never was a friendly fire attack against the British Pathfinder Platoon on the ridge across from Sangin. One additional major divergence was that in attempting to make more use of ODA 053 I provided the Canadians with more ANA support than they actually had during these events. The lack of ANA resources during this timeframe resulted in the Canadians never being able to properly garrison Panjwaii and resulted in their need to assault back in time and time again.
The events of Operation BRAVO CORRIDOR at Bayanzi on August 3rd soured the successes previously enjoyed by 1 PPCLI in the several months of hard fighting before. The battle made it clear that the Taliban were not only back in Panjwaii, but were back and intending to stay and fight for what they had seized. While their ability to carry out their intended summer operations in Kandahar was seriously impaired, the Taliban were clearly seen by NATO as a growing threat to the city.
It would be up to the Patricias’ replacements, the battle group based on the 1st Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, to take Panjwaii back.