Seven Principles Of Mission Command In Operation Anaconda

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Operation Anaconda In March 2002, the US military launched Operation Anaconda in the eastern part of Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley. The operation aimed to destroy the Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces that had been involved in attacks against coalition forces and Afghan civilians. The success of any military operation is based on its adherence to the seven principles of mission command outlined in ADP 6-0. I will now explain and analyze how Operation Anaconda failed or passed the seven principles of Mission Command. Mutual Trust is shared confidence between commanders, subordinates, and partners that they can be relied on and are competent in performing their assigned tasks (ADP 6-0 para. 1-30). The principle of building mutual trust emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where soldiers feel valued, respected, and trusted. In Operation …show more content…

In Operation Anaconda, there were several instances where the principle of creating a shared understanding was violated. For instance, there was a lack of clarity regarding the mission and the objectives of the operation. One example of this was Washington wanting to keep the number of troops limited, with no formal amount of manpower being established (Geibel, 2002). This lack of clarity led to confusion and a lack of coordination among the coalition forces. Additionally, there was a lack of communication between the US and Afghan forces, leading to a lack of clarity regarding their respective roles in the operation. The Afghan’s role was to simply go into the Valley and arrest the enemy fighters separating them from the innocent civilians. Once the actual operation took place, this did not happen the Afghan forces retreated while taking direct fire (Geibel,