The largest NATO offensive yet - A Canadian perspective

In what has been described as the largest NATO offensive against the Taliban yet and the largest air assault since the Second World War, Canadian helicopter crews flew aerial assault missions during Operation Moshtarak in February.

Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing (JTF-Afg Air Wing) deployed four CH-147D Chinook and four CH-146 Griffon helicopters and 65 personnel from Task Force Freedom, the Canadian helicopter squadron, to Helmand Province, Afghanistan to support the air-assault operation.

The goal of Op Moshtarak – a word for “together” in the Afghan language of Dari – was for the combined force (Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, International Security Assistance Force and the Helmand Province Reconstruction Team) to support the government of Afghanistan in asserting its authority in central Helmand, in order to demonstrate its commitment to the people living there.  Canadian helicopters inserted British, Estonian and Afghan troops into the village of Nad Ali, considered an insurgent hot spot.

The principal role of Canadian helicopters was to protect and transport approximately 380 coalition and Afghan National Army troops to the landing zone near the towns of Naqelabad Kalay and Shoval.

"You just couldn't take a time out. You had to pay attention in all phases of flight," Captain Mathieu Bergeron, who led the Chinooks in the air assault, told Canwest News reporter Matthew Fisher.  "Everything was carefully de-conflicted in time and space, but you had to stay vigilant because things don't always turn out as planned."

Among the 6,000 NATO combat troops involved in the operation were about 30 Canadian soldiers acting as mentors to a Kandahar-based Afghan battalion that deployed to Helmand prior to the start of the operation.

Canadian helicopters contribute to a pool of aircraft managed by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command South Headquarters.

By Canadian Armed Forces