FReeper Canteen ~ Operation Enduring Freedom ~ The Canteen's 15th Anniversary ~ 06 October 2016

Serving The Bestest Troops and Veterans In the World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

The FReeper Canteen presents.... October 7th, 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom After the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States military entered into a "War against global terrorism." The President began the US response in the War on Terrorism with the stroke of his pen to seize terrorists' financial assets and disrupt their fundraising network. Unlike most previous conflicts, this war was being fought on both domestic and foreign soil. Deployment of American troops to southwest Asia and countries surrounding Afghanistan came in the days following the attacks. The military response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States was assigned the name Operation Enduring Freedom, but was previously planned to have been called Operation Infinite Justice (this name was believed to have been changed following concerns that this might offend the Muslim community as Islam teaches that Allah is the only one who can provide Infinite Justice). OEF commenced on 7 October 2001. Early combat operations included a mix of air strikes from land-based B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers; carrier-based F-14 and F/A-18 fighters; and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from both U.S. and British ships and submarines. The initial military objectives of Operation Enduring Freedom, as articulated by President George W. Bush in his Sept. 20th Address to a Joint Session of Congress and his 7 October 2001 address to country, included the destruction of terrorist training camps and infrastructure within Afghanistan, the capture of al Qaeda leaders, and the cessation of terrorist activities in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated in an 7 October 2001 DoD News Briefing, that US objectives were to make clear to Taliban leaders that the harboring of terrorists was unacceptable, to acquire intelligence on al Qaeda and Taliban resources, to develop relations with groups opposed to the Taliban, to prevent the use of Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists, and to destroy the Taliban military allowing opposition forces to succeed in their struggle. Finally, military forces would help facilitate the delivering of humanitarian supplies to the Afghan people. The British had also defined the goals of their involvement (termed Operation Veritas) in "Her Majesty's Government's Campaign Objectives," dated 16 October 2001. The short term goals of the military action included the capture of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders, the prevention of further attacks by al Qaeda, the end of Afghanistan's harboring of terrorists, their training camps and infrastructure, and the removal of Mullah Omar and the Taliban Regime. Long term goals included the end of terrorism, the deterrence of state sponsorship of terrorism, and the reintigration of Afghanistan into the international community On Sunday October 7, 2001, American and British forces began an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban forces and al-Qaeda. The Northern Alliance, fighting against a Taliban weakened by U.S. bombing and massive defections, captured Mazari Sharif on November 9. It rapidly gained control of most of northern Afghanistan and took control of Kabul on November 13 after the Taliban unexpectedly fled the city. The Taliban were restricted to a smaller and smaller region, with Kunduz, the last Taliban-held city in the north, captured on November 26. Most of the Taliban fled to Pakistan. The war continued in the south of the country, where the Taliban retreated to Kandahar. After Kandahar fell in December, remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda continued to mount resistance. Meanwhile, in November 2001 the U.S. military and its allied forces established their first ground base in Afghanistan to the south west of Kandahar, known as FOB Rhino. The Battle of Tora Bora, involving U.S., British and Northern Alliance forces took place in December 2001 to further destroy the Taliban and suspected al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. In early March 2002 the United States military, along with allied Afghan military forces, conducted a large operation to destroy al-Qaeda in an operation code-named Operation Anaconda. The operation was carried out by elements of the United States 10th Mountain Division, 101st Airborne Division, the U.S. special forces groups TF 11, TF Bowie, and TF Dagger, British Royal Marines, the Norwegian Forsvarets Spesialkommando (FSK), Hærens Jegerkommando and Marinejegerkommandoen, Canada's 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the Afghan National Army, the German KSK, and elements of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and of the New Zealand Special Air Service. After managing to evade U.S. forces throughout the summer of 2002, the remnants of the Taliban gradually began to regain their confidence. A Canadian and U.S. led operation (supported by British and Dutch forces), Operation Mountain Thrust was launched in May 2006 to counter renewed Taliban insurgency. Since January 2006, the NATO International Security Assistance Force undertook combat duties from Operation Enduring Freedom in southern Afghanistan, the NATO force chiefly made up of British, Canadian and Dutch forces (and some smaller contributions from Denmark, Romania and Estonia and air support from Norway as well as air and artillery support from the U.S.) (see the article Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006). The United States military also conducts military operations separate from NATO as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in other parts of Afghanistan, in areas such as Kandahar, Bagram, and Kabul (including Camp Eggers and Camp Phoenix.)   ~ Happy 15th Anniversary FReeper Canteen ~ FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies' military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. "To our military readers, we remain steadfast in keeping the Canteen doors open. The FR Canteen is Free Republic's longest running daily thread specifically designed to provide entertainment and moral support for the military. The doors have been open since Oct 7, 2001, the day of the start of the war in Afghanistan. We are indebted to you for your sacrifices for our Freedom." "To every service man or woman reading this. Thank You for your service to our country. No matter where you are stationed, no matter what your job description Know that we are are proud of each and every one of you." ~ 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub ~ *Operation Enduring Freedom Videos*

[luvie]

It’s the best place to be on FR! :) Thanks to you....and Tonk.

[luvie]

Might be some rain, but hopefully not flooding like it did last year in this area!

I think it’ll just be maybe sweater weather at night. I was exaggerating. LOL!

We need rain too. Hubby finally had to water the lawn. Last month I don’t think he had to but just maybe once! It was nice for a change not to get a huge water bill! :)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu...did you listen to the VP debate last night?

I tried to listen at work, but it was horrible for listening to anything Pence had to say. I settled for reading about it here on FR.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Beautiful, Meg...((HUGS))...thank you for your steadfast support of our troops.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Janey...((HUGS))...hope work and studying are “working” well together.

[MEG33]

Thank you, (((Kathy))).

[radu]

Well, hmph! I can’t find several of the cd’s I’ve saved stuff on. They’re here somewhere and the tank is on one of them.

I remember your car. LOL! It’s so “you”. :-)

[Soaring Feather]

Love my car!LOL

I went looking for my tank did not find it yet.

[radu]

Please, no flooding! You don’t need THAT much rain!

Sweater weather at night isn’t too bad. Coat weather would certainly take a little of the fun out of things, though. Glad it won’t cool off that much.

No lawn watering here but I did go out and water the flowers last night. They were desperate. The little toad lilies are blooming now and I don’t want to lose those. They got an extra dose of water.
I didn’t water a lot and will probably have to do it again early next week. No rain in the 7-day forecast. :-(

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

Things going relatively smoothly at work this week? Many corrections from last week?

The debate was on tv but I didn’t pay much attention. The few times I did, I wanted to throw something heavy at the tv. Kaine ticked me off.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good night and rest well, Sand. Thanks for helping honor our troops. And thank you for your service to our country.

[radu]

My tank is in my “dollz” folder but I can’t find the cd with that folder on it. Gonna have to look later since I need to jump in the shower and get a few things done around here. Tomorrow is one of the days I pull a shift at the election HQ which means going to bed early. Ugh!

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks Du, have a good sleep.

HUGS

[Soaring Feather]

Good night, Ma!

HUGS

[luvie]

Bummer! Hope they’re wrong and you get some much needed rain from Matthew! Someone should get some good from it! Might as well be you guys! :)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Proud American in Canada.

Taglines can really be creative.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks for sending a package to the troops. It was/is so very important for them to know that the people support them, care about them being so far from home and defending our freedom.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Posting while engrossed in a tv show sure showed.

LOL!! Been there, done that.

[luvie]

Whatcha waitin’ for?

[luvie]

Whatcha waitin’ for?