Anaconda

The two officers, friends and comrades for years, find themselves in March 2002 engaged in the factual events of Operation ANACONDA: America’s first conventional battle against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the Shah-i-Kot valley of Afghanistan.

In one of the coalition’s most difficult battles the allies fight an enemy much more numerous and more tenacious than expected.

Sambrook’s vastly outnumbered American infantry must overcome inadequate intelligence and support to fight not just the enemy but the rugged mountain terrain, the frigid weather and ever changing mission priorities. Richter’s combined special operations force of Canadians and New Zealanders must unravel the secret of the valley that inspires the enemy’s fanatical resistance.

On the peak of the 10,240 foot mountain Takur Ghar, a veteran Taliban commander must contend with a disastrous American special forces insertion that threatens his troops and those of his despised Uzbek al-Qaeda allies while fending off a nearby patrol from Australian Special Air Service Regiment.

In the end, Operation ANACONDA was questionably declared a massive allied victory by its senior leaders. Along the way its participants, those with boots on the ground or flying helicopters into the valley, had to contend with, and overcome, many systemic circumstances that brought them within a hairsbreadth of an unparalleled disaster. Allies: Anaconda tells the story of the crucible of fire that forged the bond that unites its main characters.