Operation Harpoon was the code name of a joint American–Canadian military operation which took place in March 2002 in Paktia Province,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. This operation took place in roughly the same region as Operation Anaconda. It was also the first major Canadian combat mission in half a century.

Operation

The Operation started in the early hours of March 13 using land and air forces to eliminate pockets of

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

resistance in the Arma Mountains in eastern Afghanistan. The land component was a battalion-sized Canadian and an American force from the 187th Regt of the 101'st Abn Div (Rakkasans) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pat Stogran, the commanding officer of the 3 PPCLI (

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI, generally referred to as the Patricia's) is one of the three Regular Force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army of the Canadian Armed Forces. Formed in 1914, it is named for Princess Patrici ...

) battle group. On March 14, 2002, Stogran's Canadian troops led one of his American platoons to a cave-and-bunker complex, where the Americans proceeded to destroy several bunkers. The Canadian and American force also investigated 30 caves and four mortar positions, resulting in three enemy casualties. There were no Casualties for the coalition.

References

Conflicts in 2002 2002 in Afghanistan Battles of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) {{battle-stub