Brothers In Battle
Victory in the Shah-E-Kot Valley, Afghanistan, 1 - 18 March 2002 OPERATION ANACONDA
by
Don Stivers
In the cold darkness of early morning, 2 March 2002, Coalition Task Force - Mountain launched its combat forces into the Shah-E Kot Valley in Eastern Afghanistan to initiate Operation Anaconda. The US-led Coalition Joint Task Force Mountain, composed of Afghan, American and coalition special operation forces, and conventional troops, assaulted a large pocket of Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists that had taken refuge in the valley's villages and caves. In the longest battle since the Vietnam War, Operation Anaconda destroyed organized Taliban and Al-Qaeda resistance in the valley and caused enemy cells outside the area to flee.
Operation Anaconda's scheme of maneuver called for isolation of the valley area followed by converging attacks to destroy the Al-Qaeda. Special operations forces with Afghan irregulars attacked toward the valley floor from the west, while soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) were flown in to establish blocking positions astride the enemy's escape routes along the valley's eastern passes through the Hindu Kush Mountains. Coalition Joint Task Mountain's forces then were to attack and clear the Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces hiding in the valley's villages and in the steep 10,000-foot mountains towering above them.
Operation Anaconda, involving host nation coalition and American soldiers, embodied a fighting spirit characterized by teamwork, tenacity, and heroism. During their rendezvous with destiny, soldiers from the 10th Mountain and 101st Airborne Divisions forged special and lasting bonds as Brothers in Battle as they climbed to glory together in the mountains above the Shah-E Kot Valley during Operation Anaconda.

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