Operation Jacana

Operation Jacana is the codename for a series of operations carried out by coalition forces in Afghanistan. The operations were carried out most notably by 45 Commando Royal Marines. U.S. forces, Australian SAS and Norwegian FSK also participated. The operation was a follow-up operation of Operation Anaconda and was meant to kill or capture the remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels. The operation has been called a "mopping up" operation after Operation Anaconda. The operation is named after an African bird type, jacana, described in one manual as "shy, retiring, easily overlooked".

Operation Jacana includes the following operations:

All these operations were meant to "clean up" the remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces out of the area of operations.

On 16 April 2002, a Royal Marine taskforce had been deployed to Bagram Airbase as part of Operation Ptarmigan: A 5-day operation with the aim to clear high mountain valleys (up to 11,000 ft), southeast of Gardez, searching for Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces and to destroy their bunkers and cave complexes. The Operation took place in coordination with Coalition forces conducting Operation Mountain Lion (whose objectives were the same) that began a day earlier. 400 troops from the Royal Marines reconnaissance troop supported by the RAF, discovered a number of previously unknown cave complexes, one of which contained over 20,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition in the Shah-i-Kot area, which was destroyed.

More than 400 Royal Marines went into "action" alongside a small number of US and Afghan troops after the US requested help; they did not encounter either Taliban or al-Qaeda forces—supporting suspicions that many had fled across the nearby border to Pakistan—but there was evidence and indications that the facilities had been used and coalition troops seized a "great deal" of papers, maps, and radios in Shah-i-Kot area which was studied for intelligence information.

The operation ended on April 18, 2002. By 20 April 2002, a total of nearly 1,700 Royal Marines had been deployed as part of the task force.

In May 2002, 600 Royal Marines and 400 Afghan soldiers supported by U.S. air power and U.S. special operations troops began Operation Snipe, a continuation of Operation Ptarmigan in Patika Province. The Royal Marine force carrying out the operation did not come across any al Qaeda or Taliban fighters (whilst moving into position the marines found small-arms ammunition hidden in a cave and some old defensive positions belonging to al-Qaeda), however on 9 May, the troops discovered caves and removed 30 truckloads of anti-aircraft, anti-tank ammunition and other heavy munitions and military equipment, including mortars, 2 Russian-made tanks were also found outside the cave. On 10 May, British troops destroyed "a vast arsenal of weaponry" (more than 20 truckloads of ammunition and weapons were destroyed in the biggest controlled explosion British forces have carried out since World War II) and al Qaeda or Taliban infrastructure by blowing up an enormous cache of weapons stored in a cave complex. The operation lasted 2 weeks (other sources say 16 days) and ended on 13 May 2002, the operation was part of a much larger operation led by the 101st Airborne Division and designed to show the al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters, the vast majority of whom were known to be in sanctuaries inside Pakistan, that they could not operate inside Afghanistan with impunity. One reason for the failure of not finding any al-Qaeda or Taliban militants was the refusal by Major-General Franklin Hagenbeck, the US force commander, of several British requests for a blocking force of American troops from 101st Airborne Division to plug two valleys as the Marines moved through them.

On 17 May 2002, coalition forces began Operation Condor following an incident in Patika province the previous day: On May 16, an Australian SAS patrol came under fire for five hours from heavy mortars and machine guns and was chased by 20 to 60 suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, Apache helicopter gunships and AC-130 gunship carried out airstrikes killing about 10 people, the rest of fighters are thought to have dispersed into small groups and blended in with local residents or fled across the border to neighbouring Pakistan. The next day, other coalition forces were deployed to assist them where a 1,000-strong coalition force (500-800 were Royal Marines) led by the Royal Marines surrounded the Khost-Paktia region. American, British, and Australian forces were in "blocking" positions as the British Royal Marines swept the area, supported by US attack helicopters and gunships who bombarded the area; the operation was conducted at heights of between 6,000 and 8,000 feet. On 17 May Brigadier Roger Lane, the top British commander in the coalition forces was supposedly battling a "substantial force" of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the mountains, but British Royal Marines spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ben Curry said on 18 May: "There has been no combat, we have established a forward operating base and are now clearing the area," Coalition jets and helicopters supported ground troops throughout the day. Coalition troops searched the area without meeting any resistance, but a small amount of ammunition including two 120 mm rockets. It later emerged that the militants who attacked the Australians were not Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters, but rather local tribal militias. Small-scale skirmishes between rival warlords were a common occurrence in Afghanistan's deeply tribal Pashtun culture. It appeared the militia forces had simply mistaken the Australians for their tribal rivals. Once again, coalition forces deployed without finding any signs of Taliban or al-Qaeda presence. On 20 May, Brigadier Roger Lane, the commander of the Royal Marine force in Afghanistan was replaced by Brigadier Jim Dutton, relations between Lane and the head of the US military were said to be poor after US General Tommy Franks allegedly found out about the Royal Marines' Operation from CNN rather than from Brig Lane. He also contradicted the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, by saying the war in Afghanistan would be over in a few weeks. Mr Rumsfeld publicly disagreed; he reportedly lost the confidence of his men and his junior commanders, and his tactical decisions came across as increasingly "desperate for some success".