2014 Gaza Valley airstrike

Zabul Province is a semi-mountainous region in southern Afghanistan that borders Pakistan to the east, Kandahar in the west and in the south, and Oruzgan in the north. Predominantly Pashtun, it is one of Afghanistan's most sparsely populated provinces with just 45 people per square mile according to a 2015 census, mostly rural tribe members spread among numerous isolated villages in the region.[1] Zabul is one of Afghanistan's poorest provinces and serves as a transit point for fighters entering the country through the porous border with Pakistan. The Taliban have had a presence in Zabul for many years. In 2003, it was the first province in Afghanistan where the group was successful in establishing a large base after the invasion two years prior.[2] However, Zabul was the first province to see Afghan army forces operate independently from NATO forces and was heralded as a model for other provinces, and the presence of U.S. troops has largely been reduced to special operations forces.[3]

In 2014, Afghanistan held a presidential election to replace incumbent Hamid Karzai. The first round of the election was held with no candidate reaching the required 50% threshold to clinch the presidency leaving former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani to proceed to a runoff election to be held on 14 June. The election was marked by periods of violence perpetrated by the country's Taliban insurgency and it was the first presidential election in Afghanistan where Afghan security forces were leading security for the event. One week before the first round elections, militants attacked the headquarters of the country's election commission in Kabul.[4] In early June 2014, Abdullah Abdullah survived an assassination attempt when his convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing three of his bodyguards.[5]

Though not designed as a close air support platform the Rockwell B-1B Lancer, a four-engine heavy bomber, has been utilized copiously in support of U.S. and coalition ground forces engaged in combat operations against insurgent forces. In 2012, the nine B-1B bombers of the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron flew 770 sorties on its deployment to Afghanistan. The bomber has proved popular in Afghanistan due to its ability to carry a large payload, and remain in the air for long periods of time, allowing it to fly throughout the country and support multiple ground operations in just one sortie.[6] Beginning in 2007, B-1B bombers began to be outfitted with Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (AN/AAQ-33), an advanced targeting pod that provides high-resolution FLIR imagery to aircrews to help identify ground targets. According to Air Force Colonel Marilyn Kott the pod, "increases the speed and accuracy with which the aircrew and the JTAC can execute the find-fix-track-target portion of the kill chain."[7]

On 8 June 2014, U.S. troops and Afghan security forces began clearing operations in Gaza Valley, in Zabul Province ahead of the 2014 runoff presidential election to be held on 14 June with the aim of disrupting Taliban insurgent activity and improving security for voters and polling sites. U.S. elements involved in the operation included soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group, and the 4th Infantry Division. Afghan security forces were composed of members of the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP), and the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS). The principal ANA unit involved in the operation was the 2nd Kandak, 4th Brigade, 215th Corps, a battalion based in neighboring Helmand Province.[8] One of the units from the 5th Special Forces Group involved in the clearing operations included an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) under the command of Captain Derrick Anderson. The ODA's joint terminal attack controller (JTAC), an Air Force specialist trained in coordinating air to ground fire had joined the team on 1 June 2014. The ODA was aided by Afghan troops, though fewer than requested due to manning issues. Prior to the operation the unit assessed the most likely response to the clearing operations by Taliban forces was to be "passive observation" with the threat of small arms fire, and improvised explosive devices.[9]

An American special operations soldier in Gaza Valley in 2013.

At 02:30 local time on 9 June, coalition forces entered Gaza Valley by helicopter and began clearing operations with Afghan forces at the lead due to rules of engagement barring U.S. troops from entering Afghan compounds. During the day U.S. and Afghan troops received brief harassing fire from insurgents. It was at this time that Taliban forces began preparing an assault on coalition troops.[9]

Shortly before 20:00 local time, as coalition forces moved to their respective pickup zones (PZs), Taliban forces attacked coalition troops. A B-1B bomber was already in the air, in the vicinity of Gaza Valley, to provide overwatch for friendly forces. Captain Anderson's ODA, supported by Afghan and conventional U.S. troops, began taking fire. The team was split into two elements with six members maneuvering to high ground to more effectively engage insurgent forces. The team reported Taliban positions, some as close as 150 meters (490 feet) away. The JTAC, not with the team that had moved to high ground, asked the B-1B pilots if they could see the IR strobes on the helmets of the U.S. troops on the ground to which the crew responded, "negative IR strobes," before the JTAC began relaying target coordinates to the bomber. In addition, the JTAC gave an incorrect location to the bomber crew of the nearest coalition troops, stating they were 300 meters away (1,000 ft), rather than the actual 150 meters (500 ft), before requesting laser-guided bombs to be dropped on enemy positions. "All friendlies are 300 meters west with IR strobes on taking effective fire; I need you guys in," the JTAC told the bomber crew, to which the crew responded that they would be "in" in one minute. Communication between the element on the ridgeline and the rest of the troops including Captain Anderson, and the air controller degraded as the firefight went on, due to the malfunctioning radios of those troops on the high ground. Just before the airstrike, one of the soldiers, SSgt. Mcdonald of the 5th Special Forces Group had removed the IR strobe on his helmet and attached it to his pack located on the ground to mark his location as friendly.[9]

At 20:20 local time, the controller cleared the B-1 crew to drop ordnance as it made a final pass over the target site, telling the aircraft it was "cleared hot.". At 20:21 local time, the B-1B bomber dropped two, five-hundred pound JDAM guided bombs on the ridgeline with a five millisecond delay between each bomb. Immediately after the airstrike, U.S. forces on the ground realized the strike was awry, having landed on friendly forces with the ODA's team sergeant stating over the radio that the strike had hit "our hill." The first U.S. troops took seven minutes to reach the ridgeline where they discovered the extent of damage caused by the strike. The blast instantly killed five of the six coalition soldiers on the ridge, with one, SSgt. Scott R. Studenmund of the 5th Special Forces Group, becoming severely wounded. Army medic, SSgt. Brandon Branch discovered the wounded Studenmund and began to apply tourniquets before the gravely wounded Special Forces soldier succumbed to his wounds. Coalition troops immediately descended on the area to recover remains and equipment. The bodies of five of the killed were recovered however a sixth was determined to be incinerated and the troops left the area. A ceremony was held at Kandahar Airfield to honor those killed in the airstrike, before their remains were repatriated to Dover Air Force Base for identification and delivery to the families.[9]

A closer view of the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod

Captain Derrick Anderson, through the use of his own lawyers, was ultimately cleared of any responsibility in the strike and faced no punitive action,[19] however the incident led to end of his military career. The Air Force JTAC who called in the strike was ultimately forced out of the special operations community.[18] Despite the flaws in the Sniper Pod, no plans have been made fix the issue, however B-1B crews have been made aware of the critical flaw and received retraining on the device as a result. No changes have been made to the B-1B's use as a close air support platform. According to Woody Studenmund, the father of one of the soldiers killed in the air strike, "None of the other mistakes mattered, none of them mattered. When we send our soldiers into battle, it's wrong to have them using a weapon system which isn't capable of doing what it's supposed to be doing. It's not murder, but it's close."[18]