The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 1074 US Army Operation Plan
Uruzgan Province, with its capital in Tarin Kort.

Allied Forces Command.

John is holding a war meeting.

There are 18 counties in Uruzgan Province, all of which are located in mountainous areas. The county towns are not big, with a population of probably only or a few thousand people. As for the rural areas, the population is much larger.

However, these counties must be attacked, because if the coalition forces do not occupy the counties, the counties will be under the control of the guerrillas, and the guerrillas will be able to obtain supplies and recruit soldiers more easily.

But now the coalition forces only have 5000 people in the city of Tarin Kort, and it is impossible to send all 5000 people to attack these county towns.

So after occupying the city of Tarin Kort, John supported the locals to form a government army.

By now, the U.S. military has realized the problem, that is, with the coalition's 15 ground troops, it is not a problem to occupy the capital cities of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, but it is almost impossible to occupy those county towns.

There are nearly 700 counties in Afghanistan, and most of the county towns are located in mountainous areas.

Therefore, the United States decided to learn from the Soviet Union and support a pro-American government in Afghanistan, help this pro-American government form a regular army, and let these regular troops perform auxiliary combat tasks, help garrison cities, counties and even attack rural areas.

The United States has actually been eyeing Afghanistan, a strategic location, for a long time.

Because Afghanistan is located at the intersection of West Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, with an area of ​​64.75 square kilometers, it is a key transportation hub between the north and the south. Its geographical location is very important. It borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, China to the northeast, Pakistan to the east and southeast, and Iran to the west.

It can be said that Afghanistan is located in the heart of the Eurasian continent and is the intersection of the four major geopolitical forces of East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and Central Asia. As long as Afghanistan is controlled, it will help the United States gain a geopolitical advantage.

By occupying Afghanistan, the United States is equivalent to stabbing a knife directly into the polar bear's sphere of influence in Central Asia. It can slowly pull Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan in Central Asia into the American camp, control the Eurasian land artery, and threaten the polar bear's heartland.

Another thing is that from a strategic point of view, we can form a pincer attack on a certain big country from the east and the west, and continue to put pressure on the big country.

There is also Pakistan. The United States can influence Pakistan and turn it into a pro-American country again, thereby expanding the influence of the United States in South Asia. Now the only country that the United States can influence in South Asia is India, which is obviously far from enough.

Of course, they could also threaten Persia directly at its doorstep, forcing Persia to make major concessions and even lay the groundwork for future attacks on Persia.

"Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, how is the government army doing now?" John looked at Thomas.

Thomas, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, is specifically responsible for helping local Afghan forces form their army.

In order to help local forces form governments and armies, the Americans have gone to great lengths and spent a lot of money.

They not only need to help set up an interim government and appoint key personnel for the Afghan interim government, but also teach the Afghan interim government how to operate, how to set up a legitimate government, how to hold elections, how to change the country's name, and how to hold national and local parliamentary elections.
It can be said that the American model is almost being copied to Afghanistan.

As for the Afghan government forces, the Americans not only help to organize and train them, but also pay their salaries, provide military expenses, etc.

After all, Afghanistan is too poor, extremely poor, and has been bombed into ruins. The Americans cannot do this without paying.

"We have now formed a 3000-man troop, barely meeting the standards of a regiment. We are now fully equipped with weapons, but we are not yet combat-ready!" Thomas said. The salary offered by the United States is quite good, and now that there is chaos and disorder, it is always easy to recruit soldiers.

John frowned: "Not yet capable of fighting?"

"These Afghans are malnourished and have poor physical fitness, so they can't be trained too much!" Thomas said helplessly, "But it shouldn't be a problem for them to help maintain law and order and garrison the city."

"Next, we will send troops to attack Dehraward. We will leave one thousand of the three thousand troops in the city of Tarin Kort, and select two thousand to follow us to attack Dehraward!" said John.

Dahra Ward is located to the west of Tarin Kowt City, in the middle of the Helmand River. It is the place where the Tarin Kowt River, a tributary of the Helmand River, meets the Helmand River. Its geographical location is very important. Occupying Dahra Ward means controlling this important place, and it is also beneficial for the coalition forces to control Kandahar Province, Helmand Province, Nimroz Province, and Charb Province. These areas are all relatively flat areas.

"In addition, we will divide our troops into two groups and attack Chinaltu at the same time!" John was very ambitious and wanted to capture two counties at the same time.

The coalition headquarters only gave him two months, requiring him to capture all the county towns in Uruzgan Province within two months and thus basically control Uruzgan Province.

Dehraward is located downstream of Tarin Kort, and there is only one road along the river connecting the two, which is about 47 kilometers long; Chinartu is located upstream of Tarin Kort, and there is only one mountain road along the river, which is about 49 kilometers long.

Although the coalition forces had a total strength of only 5000 men in Uruzgan Province, which was not a large number, John was very confident that he could capture the two counties. He believed that the guerrillas had lost their courage and dared not fight against the powerful coalition forces, and would only carry out sneak attacks like thieves.

The troops were divided into two groups, enough to capture the two county towns of Dehraward and Zinartu.

Afterwards, John made a battle plan, leaving 1,000 coalition troops and 1,000 government troops to garrison in Tarin Kort, leaving 2,000 troops. Then the 2,000 coalition troops and 1,000 government troops attacked Dehraward, cutting off the guerrillas' retreat from the plains to the mountains; another route with the same force attacked Zinartu.

Three days later, the two armies left the city of Tarin Kot.

But John didn't know that the news had been secretly delivered by the guerrillas' undercover agents in the government army long before the command of the operation reached the government army.

After receiving the intelligence, Amir, who was in the mountain, held an emergency meeting and decided to ambush the US-led coalition forces halfway.

Halfway through the journey, there were high mountains on both sides of the river. The mountains were quite steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack, so they could directly block the coalition forces.

The guerrillas laid mines on one side of the road, then built defensive positions and set up mortar positions on a hill on one side.

Due to insufficient manpower, the guerrillas could only build a defensive position on one side, with a length of 500 meters.

That morning, when the guerrillas were eating dry food and drinking water in the trenches, there was an American reconnaissance plane in the sky.

However, there are mountains and forests below, and the vision is limited, so even reconnaissance aircraft have difficulty in detecting it.

This kind of terrain cannot be detected by reconnaissance satellites in space or reconnaissance planes in the air.

And this is the advantage of terrain!
(End of this chapter)