Combat· Afghanistan War (Op ENDURING FREEDOM)
Kandahar International Airport
The seizure of Kandahar International Airport was a key Marine objective in the opening campaign, the capture of the airfield serving the Taliban's spiritual capital as the regime collapsed in the south.
Marines moved from their desert base to take the airport, which the retreating enemy had held and which was strewn with mines, unexploded ordnance, and the debris of the fighting. Securing the airfield gave the coalition a major logistical hub in southern Afghanistan and a base from which to project further operations, while denying it to the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The Marines cleared and held the airport against the hazards left behind and the threat of enemy fighters still in the area. Taking Kandahar's airport was one of the consequential gains of the early war, the consolidation of the Marine grip on the south after the fall of the city, and a foundation for the coalition presence that followed.
Record no. 782