Battle of Chora | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | |||||||
A Dutch army PzH 2000 firing on Taliban positions in Chora. Photographed by David Axe on June 16, 2007. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Coalition: Netherlands United States Australia Afghanistan | Taliban[1] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Colonel Hans van Griensven[2] Lieutenant Colonel Rob Querido[2] Captain Larry Hamers Militia leader Rozi Khan[1] |
Mullah Mutalib †[2] Mullah Ismael †[2] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
500+ soldiers 100 police officers 150–200 militiamen | Unknown, possibly several hundred insurgents[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
16 killed[3] 2 killed[4] 1 killed | 71 killed[5] | ||||||
65 civilians killed[5] |
The Battle of Chora took place in and around the town of Chora, in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province, from June 15 to 19, 2007. The fighting was between ISAF and Afghan forces on one side and Taliban forces on the other, for the control of the Chora District center, regarded by the Taliban as a tactical target because it provides ground access from unsecured Gizab District in the north to the provincial capital of Tarinkot. According to some press reports, the fighting was the largest Taliban offensive of 2007 in Afghanistan, and resulted in the death of one American, two Dutch, and 16 Afghan soldiers, as well as approximately 58 civilians and 71 Taliban fighters.[6]