For all of you who havenīt noticed yet ;)
Another set of reports coming online during the next few weeks, based on the following background story:
Located at the entrance to the Lagaskhar Valley and along a historical (but now defunct) trade route, the city of Qalah-eh Bagh had been a strategic position for centuries. As far as two thousand years ago invaders tried to control this vital spot to dominate the flow of trade and control the entrance to the isolated, but densely populated and once prosperous valley.
After years of continuous fighting, the city lies shattered, only a shadow of its former glory and wealth. During the civil war, Qalah-eh-Bagh took severe damage, and though the people rebuilt parts of the city, it has never recovered from the blows that modern weaponry dealt to it. After the foreign intervention in Afghanistan, the regional town had first been ignored – located in the remote parts of southern Afghanistan, without access to major roads or infrastructure, it was neither a good spot to set up a base, nor a strategic obective to control. But with the US taking over responsibilities from ISAF-forces as part of the troop surge, the town has attracted some attention due to its role in the notorious and flourishing drug trade. Local Taliban and Warlords have made the city a major trading hub, resurrecting its former status as a great centre of commerce…
In order to disrupt the economic foundations of the Insurgent forces, US commanders did not only launch Operation Firefly – a campaign into the Lagashkar valley, which is both an insurgent stronghold and a major production centre for heroin, but also decided to take control of Qalah-eh-Bagh, where the drugs have been distributed to foreign dealers, mostly located in Pakistan.
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The first stage in the Operation to secure Qalah-eh-Bagh is to root the Taliban out of the surrounding villages and the outskirts of the city to establish a strongpoint, from where further Operations can be organised.
One of this strongpoints is a compound dubbed "A7", controlling the western approach to the city.
Two rifle-squads are tasked to free the area from insurgents and to destroy all machinegun- and AT-placements in the area to make sure that supplies and reinforcements can arrive along the road unhindered.
Read more at:
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