Editing Operation Anaconda (section)

==Assessment==

At the end of Operation Anaconda, the US and Afghan forces had succeeded at removing the majority of the Al-Qaeda and Taliban presence from the Shah-i-Kot Valley. The US forces suffered 80 casualties in the operation, with 8 killed and 72 wounded. An undetermined number of Afghan fighters were also killed in the Operation Anaconda.<ref name=CNN-Mar-2002/> Estimates of Al-Qaeda and Taliban casualties range from 100 to 1,000, with U.S. commanders favoring the higher estimates and Afghan commanders favoring the lower estimates. The U.S. forces estimated they had killed at least 500 fighters over the duration of the battle, however, journalists later noted that only 23 bodies were found – and critics suggested that after a couple of days, the operation "was more driven by media obsession, than military necessity".<ref>[[Stephen Tanner]], Afghanistan: A Military History, Page 317</ref>

Security expert [[Bill Roggio]] argued that al-Qaeda "took a beating during the battle, [but] they were by no means defeated".<ref name="roggio" />

A significant critique of Operation Anaconda centered around the lack of air support that the Rakkasan troops relied upon. General Hagenbeck expressed frustration about the delays in getting requested airstrikes when needed. He highlighted in an interview with ''Field Artillery'' magazine in September 2002 that there were instances where it took anywhere from twenty-six minutes to several hours for the requested air strikes to actually arrive. This meant that the Infantry positioned in the Halfpipe had to endure extended periods of time lying in the dirt, exposed to enemy fire, without the necessary air cover. While air support proved crucial in assisting the Infantry during the operation, often responding quickly and neutralizing insurgent mortar positions and machine-gun nests as requested, there were other instances in which the air support team failed to adequately assist the ground forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naylor |first1=Sean |title=Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda |date=7 March 2006 |publisher=Dutton Caliber |isbn=978-0-425-20787-1 |pages=270–271 |edition=Reprint |language=English}}</ref>

Operation Anaconda was also met with criticism from allied coalition forces. According to an interview<ref name="stern">[http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/:Kommando-Spezialkr%E4fte-Die-Profis/531806.html?p=3&postid=3 "Kommando Spezialkräfte: Die Profis"], [[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]</ref> of some soldiers of the German Special Forces KSK, the post-operation briefing was broken down by an argument between the KSK soldiers and U.S. soldiers. The cause of the conflict is said to have been the complaint of some U.S. soldiers that the KSK soldiers had only changed their position when a shepherd stumbled into their hideout instead of killing him. "Use your silenced gun, then move on."<ref name="stern" />

''"The U.S. soldiers would in fact eliminate such 'threats,' says a former KSK officer. (...) The Germans are quoted to have witnessed U.S. Forces flattening entire villages during Operation Anaconda: 'Let's go, free to pillage' (...). A former KSK commander is quoted in the German magazine ''[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]'' to have said: 'The pictures of Abu Ghraib, the torture in Iraqi prison camps, did absolutely not surprise me.'''<ref name="stern" />

In the wake of Operation Anaconda, relations between US and UK forces on the ground soured when ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]],'' the magazine for American forces and their families, openly criticized the [[Royal Marines]] for returning "empty-handed" from their search for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters claiming that Britain's contribution to the campaign was "disappointing."{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}} Relations were further soured with reports from a number of publications that [[Osama bin Laden]] might have escaped due to a substantial delay from the original H-hour of the deployment of American Forces.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Stephen Biddle has characterized Operation Anaconda as a "series of surprisingly orthodox ground battles."<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Biddle|first1=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjRY3kti18UC&pg=PA20|title=Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle|date=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400837823|page=7}}</ref> He rejects the popular characterization of the operation as a guerilla war.<ref name=":1" />

===Long-distance sniper record===
The [[Longest recorded sniper kills|record for the longest combat kill by a sniper]] was during Operation Anaconda by the Canadian Army [[sniper]] Corporal [[Rob Furlong]] of the 3rd Battalion [[Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry]] and held for seven years until it was surpassed in 2009. Using a [[McMillan TAC-50]] .50-calibre rifle, Furlong killed a Taliban fighter armed with an [[RPK|RPK machine gun]] at a confirmed distance of 2,430 meters (1.51 miles).<ref>{{cite web |author=Michael Friscolanti |author-link=Michael Friscolanti |url=http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20060515_126689_126689 |title=We were abandoned |pages=18–25 |publisher=[[Macleans magazine]] |date=2006-05-15 |access-date=2011-11-22 |archive-date=2010-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821203727/http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20060515_126689_126689 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A few days prior to Furlong's shot, his teammate, [[Arron Perry]], also from the 3rd Battalion PPCLI, had set the previous record of {{convert|2310|m|ft}}, meaning that a new record was achieved twice during the operation.

The five-man team, including MCpl [[Graham Ragsdale]], MCpl Tim McMeekin, MCpl [[Arron Perry]], Cpl Dennis Eason, and Cpl [[Rob Furlong]], killed over 20 enemy fighters during the operation and were awarded [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] medals by the United States for their service.