OK, here goes â “ skirting the bounds of OPSEC:
Kabul, October 2004
I get a call from â Å“Tonyâ ? a contractor with whom we'd done some work in past. Tony says that he's just seen a UN vehicle stopped by the Intercontinental Hotel and the occupants forced out of their vehicle at gunpoint. They were then loaded into a Black Toyota Surf, which Tony was following at a discrete distance.
One of the guys sprints down to the operations centre while we keep Tony on the phone. By ranting and raving, he manages to get a Dutch AH-64 (Apache) airborne (the Dutch were actually pretty good and could be very aggressive). The Apache picks up the Toyota immediately and tracks it to a house in the NW part of Kabul. (Apache capabilities are public knowledge)
The Apache begins to orbit the house and Tony gets the wave-off.
All is good, right?
Wrong. ISAF gets involved. The Afghans are to run this... â Å“Second rowâ ?, blah, blah, blah...
ISAF orders the Apache away from the scene, for reasons no one understands. The Dutch are livid, but ISAF insists. The house is left unmonitored while the Kabul City Police argue who is going to run the show (although some of us suspected that there was â Å“something elseâ ? going on with them). Does ISAF put in a cordon? No. Is surveillance laid on? No. Do they do ANYTHING? Nope...
Three hours later, the KCP moves in â “ no sign of a Toyota, no sign of hostages...nothing. Gee what a surprise.
The result? Three poor people were held for over a month, with absolutely no support from ISAF and no action. I happened to lead preparations for the â Å“military optionâ ?, which (thankfully) didn't involve ISAF forces (except on the periphery). The mismanagement, prevaricating, indecision, and lack of operational security was breathtaking to behold. I still shake my head at some of the HQ ISAF briefings I had to attend. The "other agencies" I became involved with quickly refused to speak with anyone from ISAF or from a European country and confined themselves to planning with the Canadian (me) and the Brit (for obvious reasons). ISAF appeared to be more concerned with the Public Relations angle than anything else.
In the end, they conducted their own direct action within the confines of Kabul (and the ISAF AOR) and the hostages were freed... ISAF was cut completely out of the operation and there was much European bitterness as a result... :'(
Canadian Sig said:
Cleaning out the towers at warehouse after the Germans abandoned their posts ( because they were cold ) only to find them full of empty beer cans.
Say it isn't so!!