Operation Headstrong
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Operation Headstrong | ||||
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Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | ||||
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Belligerents | ||||
United Kingdom
Afghanistan |
Taliban | |||
Strength | ||||
150 |
Operation Headstrong involved the training of Afghan commandos in a grouping called the Afghan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF) by British special forces, including the Special Air Service , to seek out and destroy drug laboratories and to confiscate drug shipments. [1] [2] Britain later provided four helicopters for the ASNF's use. [3] British assistance to the ASNF amounted to £6.23 million in 2005–6, £9.4 million in 2006–7, and £32.5 million in 2007–8. [4]
Background
Britain was the lead nation on counternarcotics in the Bonn Agreement and began forming a counternarcotics force known as Task Force 333 , which would attack labs processing opium into crystal heroin. Elite Afghan units were trained and mentored by members of the British SAS. [5]
Operation
The operation, dubbed Operation Headstrong was launched on 2 January 2004 with a raid on a heroin lab in northern Badakhshan . [5]
By mid-2004, Force 333 had two operational units of 150 men each. One former Force 333 commander said that whenever the group hit a lab in the south of the country, they were guaranteed to get attacked, for example during a raid on a large lab in Bahramcha , Helmand Province , the lab owner called the local Taliban subcommander who ambushed the force. The ambush was so vicious the commander had to call in US air support to suppress it. [5]
References
- ↑ Burnett, Victoria and Mark Huband. "UK trains Afghans in anti-drugs drive" . Retrieved 23 April 2014 .
- ↑ Hayes, Geoffrey; Sedra, Mark (4 August 2009). Afghanistan: Transition under Threat . Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-1554586981 . Retrieved 23 December 2018 .
- ↑ Owen, Johnathan (11 April 2010). "Afghan farmers reap cannabis harvest worth £61m" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 24 May 2022 . Retrieved 23 December 2018 .
- ↑ "Hansard: Written Answer to Question - Afghanistan, drugs" . Hansard . Hansard. 18 February 2008 . Retrieved 23 December 2018 .
- 1 2 3 Peters, Gretchen (2011). Seeds of Terror: How Drugs, Thugs, and Crime Are Reshaping the Afghan War . Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1851687510 .
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