Failure Of Operation Anaconda In The Task Army

Operation Anaconda consisted of different branches of the United States Military, Central Intelligence Agency operatives, as well as Afghan forces. This operation had some task organization failures before and during the battle that could have resulted in a much different outcome. Operation Anaconda was almost a complete failure due to lack of task organization that directly related to issues with loss of life, equipment shortfalls, and time of operation. Loss of Life As stated above the loss of life and wounded American and Afghan Soldiers during operation Anaconda was a problem that could have lost the battle for the United States and Afghan forces. The loss of American and Afghan Soldiers totaled eight killed in action and 72 wounded in action (Fleri, 2003). The amount of Soldiers killed or wounded in action came in a period of just two weeks and was a direct result as a task organization failure. If operation Anaconda’s task organization provided more intelligence sections, the amount of casualties could have been avoided based on accurate reporting of the amount of insurgents in the region.
By including human intelligence, they would have got a more accurate count of insurgents that were in the area of operation. The drone and satellite imagines estimated around two hundred to three hundred Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Shah-i-Khot Valley of Afghanistan. Insurgents were using tactics such as hiding next to trees when drone’s would fly by so they couldn’t be detected. As the battle started and progressed, the estimated number of insurgents was closer to around one thousand in the area of operation. If more intelligence units were included in the task, organization we would have had a more accurate accounting the amount of insurgents and prepared a different type of offensive