The 209th 'Shaheen' (Falcon) Corps was a corps, or military district, of the Afghan National Army. Its headquarters, Camp Shaheen, was at

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

Balkh Province Balkh (Dari: , ''Balx'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The c ...

. It worked closely with the German-led

Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Decem ...

TAAC North, and had its 1st Brigade at Mazar-i-Sharif and a Second Brigade at

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

. A

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

solicitation for Kunduz headquarters facilities for the Second Brigade was issued in March 2008. The corps was supported by the Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Support Squadron of the

AAF AAF may refer to: Aviation * Aigle Azur (ICAO code), a French airline * Apalachicola Regional Airport (IATA code), in Apalachicola, Florida Corporations * American Air Filter, today a part of HVAC-equipment-maker Daikin Military * Albanian Arm ...

, equipped with eight helicopters: four transport to support the Corps' commando battalion, two attack, and two medical transport helicopters.Afghan National Army Air Corps: February 2009 Update – The Long War Journal
In October 2015, as a response to the Battle of Kunduz, reports came that a new division would be formed in the area. During the Taliban offensive in 2021, the Corps was charged with the security of Northern Afghanistan. On 14 August 2021, the Corps along with its commander, Zabihullah Mohmand, surrendered to the Taliban.

2017 Camp Shaheen attack

On 21 April 2017,

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

fighters attacked Camp Shaheen killing at least 160 Afghan soldiers and wounding many others. This made the attack the bloodiest in the conflict with the Taliban since 2001 when they were removed from power.

Taliban offensive in 2021

During the Taliban offensive in 2021, the Corps was charged with security of northern Afghanistan. On 9 August, the Corps had its commander replaced by General Zabihullah Mohmand and it was tasked with defense of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was the only city under the control of government in Kabul in Northern Afghanistan. On 14 August, the Corps along with its commander surrendered to the Taliban. The pro-government militia also surrendered and the two long-time anti-Taliban warlords, namely

Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; prs, عبدالرشید دوستم; Uzbek Latin: , Uzbek Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish- ...

and

Atta Muhammad Nur Atta Muhammad Nur (also spelled Ata Mohammed Noor; fa, عطا محمد نور; born 1964) is an Afghan exiled politician and former militant who served as the Governor of Balkh Province in Afghanistan from 2004 to January 25, 2018. An ethnic ...

fled to

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. Abas Ebrahimzada, a lawmaker from the

Balkh province Balkh (Dari: , ''Balx'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The c ...

, said that in Mazar-i-Sharif, the national army surrendered first which caused the pro-government militia and other forces to lose morale and surrender in the face of Taliban assault on the city.

References

Corps of Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-mil-stub

2017 Camp Shaheen attack

Taliban offensive in 2021

See also

References