Operation Falcon Summit

Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Battle of Panjwaii

A Canadian 50 cal machine gun fires on Taliban fighters while dust rises in the background

Date	December 15, 2006 – January 2007
Location	Panjwaii district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan
Result	NATO victory Taliban retreated out of the area

Belligerents

Canada

United Kingdom

Afghanistan

Estonia

Denmark

Taliban insurgents

Commanders and leaders

Tim Grant

Omer Lavoie

Local Taliban commanders

Strength

2,000

900

Casualties and losses

7 wounded

60–70 killed
20 captured

Operation Falcon Summit (Pashto: Baaz Tsuka) was a Canadian-led operation in the Battle of Panjwaii and, on a larger scale, in the 2001–present War in Afghanistan.

NATO forces launched the operation on December 15, 2006, with the intention of expelling Taliban fighters from the Panjawi and Zhari districts of Kandahar.

Canadian troops had been fighting with Taliban fighters in the area for several months. Although the operation was under British command, the majority of movements and elements on the ground were Canadians operating from forward operating bases set up in the district during the fighting of Operation Mountain Thrust and Operation Medusa.

Early on December 15, NATO aircraft attacked a Taliban command post in the area, using laser-guided bombs, rockets, and fuel-air explosives to blast apart the makeshift fortress the Taliban had constructed out of stone, concrete, and sheet metal. The same day, aircraft began dropping three sets of leaflets over the region, the first warning the population of the impending conflict, the next a plea for locals to turn their backs on the Taliban and support NATO, and the third consisting of an image of a Taliban fighter with a large X through it to warn Taliban fighters to either leave the area, or face NATO.

During the days prior to the operation, Canadian soldiers held several meetings with tribal elders to discuss potential reconstruction efforts and to persuade locals to help support NATO in keeping the Taliban out of the area after the Taliban had been removed. While en route to one of these meetings (or shuras in Pashto) a Canadian soldier from the Royal 22^e Régiment, the "Van Doos", out of Quebec, stepped on a landmine. The soldier, Private Frederic Couture suffered severe but non-life-threatening injuries and was medivac'd to a coalition hospital where he was stabilized.

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Wikipedia