OPERATION NILE: the forgotten special ops raid in Afghanistan

In mid 2006, Taliban insurgents resurged in southern Afghanistan, especially around Uruzgan Province. Coalition forces planned a major offensive as part of Operation Mountain Thrust, aiming to clear insurgent strongholds in the Chora Valley north of Tarin Kowt. To prepare, they launched a preemptive special operation on the night of July 9th and 10th in 2006. This action, informally known as Operation Nile, targeted a senior Taliban leadership cell in central Uruzgan.

Success would disrupt the Taliban’s ability to resist the upcoming larger operation codenamed Operation Perth. Operation Nile was a joint special forces mission. The primary assault force came from Canada’s elite Joint Task Force 2 under Canadian Special Operations Forces Command partnered with Australian special forces from the Special Operations Task Group. Delta Commando Company 4 RAR served as the Quick Reaction Force. Afghan national security forces provided the outer cordon. Coalition air assets supported the raid with two Australian Chinook helicopters inserting and extracting the assault team escorted by Dutch Apache attack helicopters. A US Air Force ‘Specter’ gunship provided fire support and a Predator drone offered ISR overwatch.

Kevin Humphreys:

We were approached by the Australian Special Forces Task Group who are working under operational control of. As well as by Canadian special forces group for us to go and be the assault party for a particular mission which ended up being called Operation Nile. It was to be a kill or capture mission of a medium value Taliban target and the Canadians were the assault force in the back of the aircraft along with an Afghan partner force. And we had Australian commandos in vehicles on the ground as a Quick Reaction Force. We had Dutch Apaches in the air with us as our escort and we had American Predator and AC-130 over the top as our eyes and guns over the top.

Intelligence had identified a gathering of Taliban commanders at a walled compound near the village of Deh Jawz-e Hasanzai. The mission was to conduct a hard-knock direct action raid on the compound and to kill or capture the Taliban commander known by the pseudonym Osami Bari. When seeing the map of the target, Humphreys realised that the only place to land his two Chinooks would be right next to the compound. This would ensure special forces avoided open ground from drop point to target and maximise the element of surprise.

Kevin Humphreys:

So when I said this to the Canadian fella, the look of relief on his face was just palpable. And what I didn’t know until sometime later was that they had actually looked at a couple of different countries and their special dedicated special operations aircraft and whatnot and they’d actually refused to do the mission because it was going to have to land right next to the compound. But to me it was the only way to really achieve surprise. Now, we had a couple of aces up our sleeve and that was because we operate a stock standard US Army D model Chinook, we don’t have a great big refueling probe off the front of it, alright. And as much as I would have loved to have had one a couple of times, the fact is that the Taliban spotter network was really effective at identifying different aircraft types and knowing what types of missions they did, you know, Black Hawk vs Apache vs Chinook is really simple, but then you can also get down to some detail about the difference between say a SS-60 compared to a UH-60, one that’s designed for combat search and rescue versus utility versus an AME Black Hawk for example. A CH-47D versus an MH-47D being a special operations Chinook and they’ve got the big refueling probes. Because we were a stock standard US Army Chinook. I could pretend to be a stock standard logistics supply mission. And so that was what I created from the outset for this mission was for us to conduct a special operations air assault that looked every bit like a logistics mission until 2 minutes from target.

A plan was in place, but Humphreys and his crews had not conducted a direct-action air assault into a compound before, and certainly not one in such a tight space as the compound in question. Training was required. So the Australian Chinook crews spent several nights in a remote part of the Afghani desert practicing dust landings in tight formation along with the Canadian special forces. The approach to target, the landing, special forces ground egress, and later the extraction all had to be a reflex. There was no room for error with large twin-rotor helicopters landing at night, in the dust, under fire, right on top of the enemy.

Kevin Humphreys:

The night came for the task and we gave the mission briefing. And I remember at the end of the briefing we pulled, I pulled everybody around to have an informal chat after the brief around and just confirming some of the tasks that we’re all going to do and that we’re all we’re all on track. And at the end of it said, “All right gents, it’s going to be a cracker. Let’s go.” And a cracker it turned out to be.

From the briefing, the troops loaded up. And once inside both Chinooks, the ramps and ramp tongues were completely closed, giving the impression of a cargo mission only. Typically, with troops on board, the ramps are never fully closed to allow fresh air through the cabin. The formation flying of the Chinooks and the two accompanying Apaches mimicked a cargo mission. Even the radio chatter was designed to deceive enemy ground forces, making it appear that this flight was just another logistics run. Nothing to see here.

The lead aircraft is callsign Patriot 46. Major Dirk Noordewier is aircraft captain. Captain Lachie Hayes is co-pilot. Warrant officer class 2 Anthony Griffith is on the left door gun. Corporal Richard Wakelin takes up the right door gun. and Sergeant Lee Maloney is on the ramp. The second aircraft is call sign Patriot 47. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Humphreys is aircraft captain and the air mission commander. Captain Dan Cash is co-pilot. Sergeant Firstclass Roy Payne is from the US Army and he’s on the right gun. Corporal Tarquin Kennedy is on the left gun and Sergeant Greg Mayden is on the ramp.

Kevin Humphreys:

Went up and landed in Tarin Kowt and we would normally land in a staging location. Only if you’re doing a logistics task, you’ll land in the cargo park or if you’re needing more fuel, you’ll go and land in the fuel park. Well, we landed in the logistics park and we kept the ramp up until, you know, there was at one stage we had a bit of a longer wait than we planned and one of the Afghan soldiers jumped off the back. I wasn’t sure if it was for a have a leak or have a smoke or whatever it was. I was like, “Get him back on board right now!” Like, get that ramp up. We want to maintain the facade of this logistics mission. And then from there, you know, the the target we were going for was over here and there were a number of foward operating bases up here and we would normally depart off in this direction to go to these forward operating bases. And so that was the way we departed out of Tarin Kowt to start with and then we made a turn to go up as though we were going again a route that we’d flown 100 times before up towards a couple of other forward operating bases up here. And so we did that and it wasn’t until the last safe moment where we made a hard right turn through about 90° to then head straight towards the compound. And by that stage we’re only 2 minutes away.

Two minutes out from target, the aircraft roll out on final approach. Needles lined up and an infrared beam from an AC-130 pinpoints the compound. Humphreys gives the code word to confirm they have the correct target.

Kevin Humphreys:

And it was at that moment at that moment where I had the the reality of I’ve got 40 men on my aircraft and they’ve got 40 men on theirs and I’m the air mission commander. I better have got this right. And I was confident that I had. But that moment goes through your mind, you know, and as I said, this was our first time.

On final approach, both Chinook pilots assess their 120 to 150 ft wide and 200 ft long landing spaces. To put this in perspective, their rotors occupy 100 ft along the aircraft’s length and 60 ft wide. The landings are going to be tight alongside 12 ft high compound walls.

Grim 06, this is Shadow 11 checking in for overwatch on route to compound QS 7114 2188. Over.

Shadow 11, Grim 06. Copy. Overhead compound. Predator on station. Call sign Gator 22. Over.

Grip 06, shadow 11. Good copy. Expect light contact on arrival. Monitor streets surround compound. Report any activity. Over.

Humphreys’ aircraft comes into land at the southern wall of the compound. The approach is clear for him, but the lead aircraft must navigate over trees to get into his landing zone to the northeast. The landings are fast and heavy.

Kevin Humphreys:

On our side, the compound wall was running along on our left and then coming across in front of us. So, we had a 12 ft high urban wall along our left hand side and across the front. As we came in, we see there’s a couple of people around and there was one fella with a rifle leaning up against the wall and he was sitting on the ground. I’m guessing asleep. And I’m looking at him as we’re on late finals thinking, man, if he hasn’t heard, he hadn’t moved, hadn’t budged. So, I can only assume he was asleep and hadn’t heard the aircraft approaching at this stage. Man, you’re about to get the rudest wakeup call you’ve ever imagined.

As the Chinooks come into land, the dust completely obscures the pilot’s view of the site. These D-variant Chinooks only have analog controls, and there is no automation to assist the pilots. Blind, they hit the ground with the brakes on and lurch forward as the landing gear digs into the dirt. The ramp goes down as the 35 troops exit the aircraft and straight into a firefight. Through the thick dust, the door gunners used their lasers to point the troops to the vicinity of where they were to assault the compound.

Kevin Humphreys:

The dust was so thick you literally couldn’t see a hand in front of you. And there were a couple of troops who got out the back and turned so and ran so fast they literally smacked into the compound wall that it was that close. It was only about 10m away from the blades. And a few of the forces were literally holding the pack of the guy in front of them to make sure they didn’t get lost and separated.

Breaching the compound, the team breached the outer wall with explosives and stormed inside. In the ensuing close-quarters battle, they engaged and killed several Taliban fighters defending the compound. Notably, one insurgent was gunned down while attempting to ready an RPG launcher. This fighter turned out to be the high-value target Objective Nile himself, identified after death by his distinctive tattoos and ring. Within minutes, the assault team secured the compound, eliminating three armed Taliban and detaining four others who surrendered or were found hiding. With the troops out and heading into the compound, the ramps go up. The landing zone is hot and the Chinooks need to get out of the way as quickly as possible. They have been on the ground for 40 seconds. Both pilots prepare for a vertical instrument takeoff in a dust cloud that has reached a height of around 200 ft. Both pilots must make a vertical ascent without any visual references and hopefully pop out of the top of the dust cloud without hitting each other.

Kevin Humphreys:

We went down to Tarin Kowt which is our staging location and when we’re on the ground down there we could hear on the radio this assault this firefight was getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And you could see through the night vision goggles see very clearly the laser the tracer, you know, explosions going off. What we didn’t know was that the intelligence wasn’t quite right, funnily enough, wasn’t quite right for the night. So they were expecting to have, you know, half a dozen enemy within about 30 minutes arrive at the compound. Yes, there’d be a few there’d be two or three close personal protection in the compound and another half a dozen or so within 30 minutes. What the assault force didn’t realize was that about 500 meters down the road was a Taliban leaders meeting taking place with about 200 Taliban bedded down for the night.

Grim 06 Gator 22. New activity at compound souththeast of objective Grim QS 7131 2167. Multiple personnel exiting. Appear armed moving northwest. Sparkle in effect. How copy. Over.

Gator 22 Grim 06. Copy. 4 miles west. Slewing sensors to your grid. Over.

Grim Gator. Additional 50 plus from east. Smaller element from north converging. Enemy will have line of sight shortly. Over.

Shadow11. Grim06. Be advised. Predator has eyes on multiple contacts moving to your position. From the sky above, the Spectre gunship advised there were 50 enemy approaching from the north, 50 approaching from the south, and then too many to count coming in from the east.

Shadow 11, Grim 06, IR spotlight on. Objective illuminated. Over.

Grim 06, Shadow 11. Contact. Contact. Elevation 4950. Large two story structure southeast. Grid QS 7132 2166 over.

Copy all elevation 4350. Grid VU 0950 1870. Over.

Nav tally 20 plus hot signatures closing from southeast. Same structure, same reference. Over.

Confirmed. JTF2 clear of blast zone. Track solid. Target yours. Gates closed. Over.

Grim 06 cleared hot. Over.

Grim 06 rifle.

The gunship began pounding the enemy that was now surrounding the area.

Kevin Humphreys:

We just pulled up on the left side of the building. We were meant to go back and pick them up in about 40 minutes and that you know turned into an hour and an hour and a half and 2 hours and one of the uh… as as we’re waiting and you know the firefight’s just getting bigger and bigger and the guys are on the radio just saying hey you guys going to be able to come back in this and it’s like yes we will come back and get you. We will come back and get you. And one of the guys, Lachie Hayes from the other aircraft, he uh came over and he said, “Boss, are you mad? We better not be going back up there.” And I said, “Mate, I know, but there’s 70 men up there that need our help. And we put them in, and we’re going to get them out because we’re their only way out.” And so when they call, we’re going to go, and I need you to go and get back in that machine. And to his absolute credit, he did.

Finally, the call comes in for the extraction. Without hesitation, the Chinooks head back down to the extraction point where the firefight continues to rage. The moon had gone down, and the overcast sky left the pilots without any ambient light. Their night vision goggles are useless. Without forward-looking infraredForward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) is an airborne or vehicle-mounted thermal imaging system that detects infrared radiation (heat) emitted by objects and... More or terrain-following technology, they head in toward the extraction point on analog instruments alone, staying low enough to be tactical, but high enough so as to avoid the terrain.

Kevin Humphreys:

And on the way in, one of the… there was a radio call. I can’t remember the sequence of this. But there was a radio call at some stage saying that the Taliban knew we were coming back and they were setting up an ambush for us and it wasn’t safe for us to come back. Everybody ignored it because they knew we needed to get these guys out.

Approximately 15 minutes away, a seven-vehicle convoy of Australian Special Forces, the Commando Quick Reaction Force Platoon, had been waiting in a staging area. Upon getting the call, they raced toward the embattled objective, securing a landing zone for the helicopters and establishing a blocking position to cover the withdrawal of the assault team. The Australian commandos fought their way to high ground just a few hundred meters west of the Taliban held compound, essentially interposing themselves between the enemy and the escape route. Once in position, they laid down withering suppressive fire with heavy weapons. An Australian on the quick reaction force described seeing the AC-130’s IR spotlight, the ‘hand of God’, illuminating targets and hearing its guns thundering as the commandos arrived amid the flashes of explosions in the darkness. With a corridor temporarily open by supporting fire. The order was given to extract the assault force.

Around 3:00 a.m., the two Australian Chinooks were coming in. One of the two Apaches that were accompanying the Chinooks took a hit and damaged a hydraulic line and had to retreat to base. On the now-secure landing zone, the commandos had created a horseshoe of vehicles and a soldier spinning a buzzsaw, a bright infrared signal to bring the choppers into the landing zone.

Rocket-propelled grenades were flying under and over the incoming aircraft, but miraculously none found their target. 20 ft from the ground, the enormous wash of the rotor blades once again created a huge dust storm.

Kevin Humphreys:

As they hit the deck, all hell broke loose: laser, tracer, heavy machine gun, rockets, you know, you name it, between the aircraft, the front of the aircraft, the side of the aircraft, just going absolutely everywhere. And we’re sitting on the ground, and we seem to be sitting there for a while now. It’s a pretty big aircraft, right? It’s pretty big. And despite the size of it though, when you’ve got 30-plus troops running on or running off the aircraft, you can hear all these feet coming in and out of the aircraft. And you can feel the whole aircraft have a little bit of a rumble as all these people get on and off. Nothing. Sitting here, there is the most amazing fireworks and laser show you’ve ever seen going on outside and inside the machine. Silence. Nothing. And I looked down I looked down the companionway… I said, “Greg, are those guys getting on?” He said, “Oh, they look like they’re having a look at the fireworks show.” “Well, can you please, in your nicest voice, encourage them to get on board the aircraft?” Anyway, very shortly there’s there’s a whole bunch of action and uh and the guys are jumping on board the aircraft and just going, “Oh my god, wow.”

And what I found out later was that the 70 troops there were there were 40-odd commandos, right? There were 70 assault troops. We had the AC-130 overhead. The AC-130 had already gone Winchester (out of ammo) on 105 mil rounds before we got back there. So the concern for the assault force was that if they got on board these aircraft, even though we were the only way home for them, they would be leaving these 40 troops significantly outnumbered. They were already outnumbered, right? They were already outnumbered pretty much 2 to1. Fire support in the sky had already gone through at least half its ammo. And now 2/3 of the force on the ground was about to get on board the helicopter and fly away. So the reason these guys weren’t getting on board the helicopter wasn’t because they were looking at the fireworks show. It was because they had grave concern for leaving the commandos behind and that the real possibility they were going to be overrun. It was a very real possibility it was going to be overrun with us on the pad. Let alone us off the pad, 70 fighters off the pad and now 40 commandos left by themselves.

The 70 troops eventually boarded the Chinooks. Patriot 46 was about to take off when the pilot noticed a commando in front of him pointing to a group of Taliban about 100 ft to the left of the aircraft, raising RPGs ready to fire. The side door gunner opened up with his minigun on the threat as the Chinook took off, and the gunner at the ramp continued the engagement. As they flew away from the extraction point, another group of Taliban on the right-hand side of the aircraft engaged and the door gunner returned fire.

Kevin Humphreys:

That other aircraft, Dirk’s aircraft with 40 people on board very very nearly flew into the ground on the way home because of the challenging light conditions, and that decision of mine to push them well beyond their limits played on my mind for a long time I’ve got to say. But we both made it back to Tarin Kowt and the crewman got out to do a visual inspection of the aircraft and we had two aircraft walk around each aircraft two of them walk around twice and they said “Boss you won’t believe it there’s not a single bullet hole.” It’s like, “You can’t be serious, mate. There’s no way. Look again.” And they looked around again and they came back. Both aircraft and said, “No, there’s no bullet holes. We didn’t cop a single shot.” Just incredible. And the blades were still spinning. So, we thought we’ll check the blades when we get back to Kandahar. But for the fuselage, everything’s intact.

And there was one casualty on board. There was one KIA of the assault force and there was one other casualty that needed attention and they wanted us to keep going back towards Kandahar to get them back there. But at this stage, just the first pieces of sunlight was coming through. And so now we’re at that really awkward stage of nautical twilight where it’s both too dark and too light at the same time. It’s too dark to fly without NVGs and it’s too bright to fly with NVGs. And indeed we were now going to be going through some quite mountainous areas for us to get back. And I said, “Guys, I’m sorry. We can’t fly. We’ve got to wait another 20 minutes so there’s enough light and then we can get through the hills.

Once the Chinooks departed, the 24 Australian commandos, plus a few support attachments, were effectively alone on the battlefield. They were deep in insurgent territory. The enraged Taliban force turned its full attention on them. The commandos had taken up a defensive posture near the landing zone. They used their seven vehicles as cover. For a time, they fought back-to-back, holding off waves of attackers in every direction. It was likened to a modern-day Alamo. Enemy fire grew unbelievably intense. Dozens of RPGs streaked in and continuous machine gun and mortar fire rained on their position.

The AC-130 gunship remained on station as long as it could, dropping ordinance danger close, to keep the swarming insurgents at bay. Spectre’s infrared scope counted up to 300 enemy fighters maneuvering around the Australian perimeter. The gunship crew radioed that Taliban fighters were so close that the IR targeting sparkle was on the commandos as well. The insurgents were intermingled with the Australians’ location. In repeated blasts, the AC-130 expended all of its ammunition going ‘Winchester’ as it strafed the attacking Taliban masses.

Tusk 22 Wizard 01 flash flash flash. Emergency retask break XCAS priority TIC in RC-South vicinity of Tarin Kowt.

Wizard Tusk 22, copy immediate retask. Standing by for grid and routing.

Tusk 22, Wizard 01, pursuit direct IP Holland. Check link 16 for track. Target area active TIC. Elements from JTF2 are pinned down. Push tactical frequency U239. Day-Line 4. Contact JTAC. Call sign Shadow 21. Over.

Radio set. Link green. Over.

Shadow 11, Tusk 22, checking in. Single B1B, Lancer, direct IP Holland. Angels 20, request situation update. Over.

Tusk 22. Tusk 22. Shadow 11 Link good. Troops in contact. Immediate priority mission. Northeast Tarin Kowt. Breaking contact. Retrograding for Hilo extraction.

Taking fire!

Shadow 11, Tusk 22, loud and clear. 30 miles out. Inbound to your position. Ready to copy target data. Send it. Over.

Tusk 22, Shadow 11. Type three immediate 9-line. Target mass infantry. Grid QS 7130 2166. Friendly 400 m east. Danger close. Cleared hot. Over.

Shadow 11. Tusk 22. Copy grid QS 7130 2166. Friendlies 400 m east. Danger close. 5 minutes out. Abort code ‘octagon’. Over.

After about an hour of close combat, around 4:00 a.m., the Australian commander realised his force could not remain without being overrun. He ordered a fighting withdrawal. The commandos mounted battered vehicles covering one another as they leapfrogged back and fired at the enemy. Meanwhile, Taliban fighters on motorbikes sped ahead to block the road and set up ambushes. This triggered a running firefight stretching across several kilometres through the pre-dawn darkness.

The Australians faced continuous ambushes, machine gun teams on rooftops, RPG ambushes behind walls, and gunmen running alongside their convoy at times. One commando described RPGs bouncing off a vehicle’s windshield without detonating by sheer luck. Another recalled enemy bullets pinging the side of the vehicle, as he thought any moment could be his last. At one point, an SRV was hit and temporarily disabled. The troops had to dismount under fire, then remount and continue after beating back the assaulters. The close air support remained critical.

Shadow Grim 06 bingo fuel off station east. Flight level 150 clearing corridor for Tusk. Good luck. Over.

Tusk 22. Gator 22. Flight level 130 east to target. You’re clear in multiple contacts in trees. Parallel friendlies. Grid QS 7206 2110. Recommend six-weapon ripple north-northeast from target. Laser code 1688. Over.

Gator 22. Tusk 22. Copy laser code 1688. Programming 6 GPU 38s south to north. Release heading 350. Over.

Tusk 22. Shadow 11. Friendlies east. Clear of impact. Cleared hot. Bring it in. Over.

Shadow 11. Tusk 22. Copy. Slave to laser. Wings level. Angels 12. 20 seconds to release. Over.

Tusk 22 cleared hot over.

After the AC-130 had to depart, low on fuel and out of ammo, a US B-1B Lancer bomber arrived overhead. The crew of the B1 dropped 500 lb GPS-guided bombs on enemy positions further down the withdrawal route. These strikes obliterated one compound where a cluster of Taliban had gathered and hit other targets, threatening the convoys’ egress. These precision strikes helped punch a hole for the Australians to escape. As dawn broke around 5:30 to 6:00 a.m., the surviving Taliban began to disperse. They had taken heavy casualties from the air strikes and the hours of fighting.

After roughly 5 hours of continuous combat, the Australian Commando platoon finally fought its way out of the valley to safer terrain. They rendezvoused with a relief element from the Australian SAS, 3 SquadronNo. 3 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter squadron, headquartered at RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle, New South Wales. Estab... More, which had driven out from Tarin Kowt to assist and bring supplies. Exhausted and low on ammunition, the floors of their vehicles littered with spent brass, the commandos were astounded. Everyone in their unit was still alive. Not a single Australian soldier had been killed during this monumental battle. Given the volume of fire and odds they faced, this outcome seemed almost miraculous. Several commandos were wounded by shrapnel or grazing hits, but all were evacuated. By 7:45 a.m. on July 10th, the QRF convoy rolled back through the gates of Forward Operating Base Davis, Tarin Kowt, and one shot-up Bushmaster even returned on its wheel rims after its tires and axles had been destroyed.

Kevin Humphreys:

Here we were. That was our first hit out. That was only their second hit out. And so yeah, it was pretty incredible to know that the level of training that we go through can be adapted, can be applied in pretty much the worst of circumstances and come out with good effect.