Combat· Afghanistan War (Op ENDURING FREEDOM)
Operation Anaconda
Operation Anaconda was a major battle in the Shahikot Valley of eastern Afghanistan, an effort to trap and destroy a large concentration of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who had massed in the mountains after the fall of the regime.
The operation was principally a United States Army and special operations fight, with infantry from the Army's mountain and airborne divisions and coalition special operators bearing the brunt of the heavy combat against a dug-in enemy in the high and rugged terrain. The Marine role in the battle was limited, the main burden falling on Army and special operations forces who fought a difficult engagement amid the peaks and valleys against fighters who held the high ground. Anaconda was one of the largest set-piece battles of the early war, a hard fight that revealed both the tenacity of the enemy and the challenges of mountain combat. Its conduct and lessons were much studied afterward.
Record no. 784