FS24 – Afghanistan

I was responsible for Operation Management for IT/IS systems and SatCom for the contingent in Afghanistan and served at Camp Nordic Light, Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. I was there between February to May, 2013 

Sweden began to contribute militarily to ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) at the turn of the year 2001/2002. Initially, the task was to support security in the region around the capital, Kabul.

When the operation came to apply to the whole of Afghanistan, Sweden contributed personnel to a group led by Great Britain in Mazar-e-Sharif. In March 2006, Sweden took over the leadership there with security responsibility for four provinces in northern Afghanistan, a responsibility that has been gradually handed over to the Afghan authorities.

In 2013, a new transformation took place when the Swedish contribution entered into a collaboration together with Norway, Finland and Latvia and formed NB TSU, Nordic-Baltic Transition Support Unit. This collaboration was dissolved on 10 May 2014.

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At most, around 1,000 Swedish soldiers and officers were part of the force, and a total of more than 7,000 worked at the Swedish base, Camp Northern Light, until 2014.

On June 26, 2014, the base was handed over to the Afghan state. From September 2014, the Swedish contribution consisted of around 50 people, the majority of whom were grouped at the Camp Marmal airbase outside Mazar-e-Sharif. The mission then was still to support the government of Afghanistan in achieving security in the country.

The NATO effort Resolute Support Mission, RSM, began at the turn of the year 2014-15 in connection with the end of Isaf, the International Security Assistance Force.

The primary mission was to support the Government of Afghanistan in maintaining the security of the war-torn country’s civilian population, through mentoring of the Afghan security forces.

Following the US announcement of a military withdrawal from Afghanistan, NATO will end the Resolute Support Mission in 2021. Swedish military personnel will therefore leave Afghanistan by September at the latest in close cooperation with Germany and NATO.

The formal and final decision to end the Swedish contribution to the effort was taken by the government.

The operation ended on May 15, 2021, with the Swedish flag being lowered during a ceremony at the operation headquarters in Kabul, and the last personnel from Afghanistan landed in Sweden on May 25.

Officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia.

It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east.

Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. 

Kabul is the country’s largest city and serves as its capital. According to the World Population review, as of 2021, Afghanistan’s population is 40.2 million. 

Bild: KluddNiklas.