eee ienioea! Forces Mail from Afgha 2001-14 By Robert Jack At least 52 nations have contributed to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan since 2001. As the ISAF begins to wind down its operations, Robert Jack takes a timely look at the philatelic legacy left behind by the field post facilities that have served international troops in Afghanistan during the mission. ISAK, the International Sccurity Awistance ablished by the United! Nations 0 December 2001 follesing the invasion of Afghanistan by Western powers which began on, 7 October cof that year The invasion wis a direct consequence ofthe September 2001 attacks inthe United States 8/11") and had the aim of remoning the Taliban from power, Ac firs the ISAF mandate did not go beyond the boundaries of Kabul, however, om 13, Ocaber 2003 the UN Security Coumeil voted ‘unanimously to extend the ISAF mission beyond the eapital. As the ISAF mission now das 10 a clone iti timely ta Took atthe Philatelic legacy it will eave behind ‘Over the years, since 2001, at Feast 52 force wa greater or lesser degree. Troop ‘commitments have varied from 5,000 US ‘Woops to fewer than a dozen personnel from counties such as Fela, Ireland, the Ukraine tind Luxembourg. Not all nations have had ficld post facilis of their own, so some ave ons ad nal rom their contingent is only identifiable by oth ‘marking on the caver, Despite the length of he operations, mail has not been generated Jn quantity, communications athe start of the 2st century being carried on via mobile phone, Skype and email rather than by pos. Mail from the United States and United Kingdom contingents is particulary difficult o locate despite both having had large ‘numbers of troops in Afghanistan for entire period, There are many countries for ‘which the author has not yet seen any mal, including large troop contributors such as Australia, Commemorative and philatlie mail 122 Force, vis Security Council on is prevalent, but this article illustrates (sofa as can be ascertained) examples of non-philaeli material from some of the nations involved. With so many counties pariipating this jus touches on the material salable Austria ‘Austria contributed 170 soldiers between February 2002 and August 2003. It subsequently ‘sent 93 soldiers from August to October 2005 to kunduz to support the parliamentary and provincial elections, Since then, Austra has provided onkya handful of Haison officers to the TSAR. ig shows a cover from the Austian Commando contingent seat via the Gern Feldpost on 18 July 2002, Feldpost 1371 was based at Camp Warehouse, i writin Fig | A cover from the Austrian Commando contingent sent via the German Feldpostin 2002 (Reduced) GSM. duly 2014fase hot ced OVOSHUR Afghanistan A BlackHawk and US Army Col 8 Coe (ieee Belgium “The Belgian contingent arrived in Jy 2008 sf anid consstenly numbered around 50 personnel, being deployed in Kabul, Kundu Sd Kanata. Ag tions rail rom he Shncwe ielgan ISA contingent base in Kaul, 206. ; Canada nian woops fst arrived in Aghani fig2 A cover van February 2003, ce wes more dan Sent trom the Ai,000 oops have served deve. nally der Beigan sar tole waste belp tain tne Agata National omtegent ‘Anny and police faltaterecnsruction and fed i Kabul prove sey They were then peaepoped atuced) {oRindahar Povnce and trom 2106 were role a ajo operators and tts round Kanata Te Canarian As Force dit had a ajor presence, The ct in March 2014 Feld Post Oe nner seen a 050 and S113, however theve may be oes The eover show a Fi 3s pote dung “Operation Apollo, the Eodeaane or an speraion eotucied by Catalan forces in sipporto te United Sees ni maliny S ‘peiations in Aigharisin between October ey ator and October 2008, The Canaan samp as ben canceled with "GFPO 5000" ft mmo 23 Fi0 3 Canadian Pot oce postmark localon not know. ‘Operation Apol' cover France 2 witha 90 French oop red ia Afgan fin © 050 $050 postmark tine 2001 wrt November 2012 mambering “2 vee around 3750 at any time. Since the end of 2012 French forces have had! logistical presence onl. The ISAF military mision of the Freneh forces in Afganistan was called “LlOperation Pamir’ nel eavered avast area ‘comprising Kabul and the Shamali Pain to the north ig shows a cover from military post ace Fig4AFrench 240, senc on 4 May 2002. The office opened! cover sent on 2003 2) 3 May 2002 fon 8 January 2002 at Kabul Airport, mong i Ka aa 20 2006 to Camp Warehouse, 15 miles ava E feamioy 5 (Reduced) Germany The Cora riot ed ie, pariciaion othe Buniearin the SAP tmze December 201-A manta Zon toore wi dpe Moser, Gernay loon ame te wed arg nor IAF forces ater te US and the UR) wah in exe of 00 op Mal from the German contingent perp he ties to and tie Garman Felden WrOrand pesiod of ere fe 1300, cade TSAPTIG, Rab, pi 3008 to January 2005 TSO ede—Kumdu, December 208 10 December S004 g a T3T1- no code--Camp Warehouse, February a toon) Ga Sai £2002 to December 2008 (see Fig 1 » |\\ OOD is 130], mo code-Kabul, July 20 to December ar, Ba worms \ 2004 (previously used at Terme, Uzbel = —_ easiest to fing frm May wfc 2002) ( inde Garman G80, cede Camp Warehouse, rm ( Feltpostis Janay 200 often sed bi, cade a—ISAF HQ, Kau fom Jay Brotmer 6129, no code—Kundu, from January 2005 a \ treaveed 190, cade a ISAF Operations Not om F 4 jue ig shows an inbound cover to the German contingent adldresed to Kunduz ‘and sent Freepost via the German Feldpost Address of 61208 Darmstach, For examples ‘of the German Feldpost postmarks used in Afghanistan, sce Fig and Fig 10 GSM. July 2014 123Holland Hiolland was involved in ISAF from Ja 1 and had between 650 and 2000 troops ‘Afghanistan until August 2010, The Dutch ssurned to Kuda between Jane 2011 and Gctaber 2013. The undated cover sewn at Fig 6s from the Dutch contingent with German Feldpost cachet and Dutch postage paid cancel Italy Tnly hes ben penn SAF operation ‘ihe filth gow oop ‘onmnibuion The mandate te feian Palmer aid not allow Tan forces to ke part cob operiions again the “alta naurgeney inthe south snd ext, (of Aghanistan caer than in exeeporal ‘Chrncnions it canter es arti the Fama aren did tke place fom 2008 ‘fer Germany materia from the Haan Cantingents the nest atest oleate ig show cave sen rom Kalco Kay Feb 2009, ch ben postmarked “ISAF AFGHANISTAN’, a cancel used ate alan ISAF HQin Kaba Another cntnark which ean be found read ISAF IRAESIDIUM which was sed bythe Hera foun | Apri 2003 Norway Presot in Afghans Sie ae 200 Norwegian oop 5 tunes paket at round 500. When the troops fared toey el the Cera fe pnt ior hee tall Howere the pers shown 6 Pe tea 2 October 21, Gaede Felipst 100 and etna Macro Felipoa cachet Poland “The first Polish deployment of woops into Afghanistan was of 200 men in 2002, b this grew to 3000 troops, making Poland the seventh largest contributor tothe ISAE ‘Over 2,000 Polish personnel have served in Afghanistan in total Poland is also one of the fey countries that did not impose caveats on “where their contingents could be deployed. Poland initially used the German Feldpost, bt from 2010 covers can be found with Polis stamps, a Warsaw cane, anda Polish Bagram cachet (Fig 9 The author ean find no nformation about these covers Portugal Portuguese forces arsed in Afghanistan i February 2002, Numbers peaked at around 250 personnel, All ofthe all sen has sed the German Feldpost Fig?Dshown a cover fiom the Portguese contingent at Camp Warchouse, sent va the German Feldpos Turkey Turk hs hd a presence wih the ISA since 2002 antacone pnts the hid lanes contingent stoops however are not tngaged in combat operiona The regional rai oft abel aes ha geal touted bemeon Tantey Francs wid ay 124 renee ‘eoceee Fig 6 Dutch cover with a German Feldpost cachet land Dutch postage paid Cancel (Reduced) ro7acer (TOREISeOree rege with an SAF AFGHANISTAN postmark sent by ‘an italian soldier in Kabul in 2008 Reduced) Left: Fig 8 Norwegian cover with a Feltpost 100 postmark and a Mazare Sharif Feltpost cachet (Reduced) Fig 9 Polish inert cover wth or ra 20a a Warsaw sty | cancel and Bagram cachet Reduces) coe tnt ap warehouse “athe ceran Floats QQTurkey has also had command of sceurity inthe centrafeastern province of Ward, Covers from the Turkish contingent are cancelled on aria in Turkey. Fig 7 shows an inbound cover, postmarked 20 May 2002, from Maltepe Military High Schiool, Ankara, to a member ofthe Turkish ISAF contingent in Kabul United Kingdom Mail rom BEPOs in Afghanistan is very hn ta find Ui oldien on operons dre enti io 80 minutes of tlephone ‘ath pecvmcforaepleyomas rs sixnronths Tn aigon providing te ec io enall and Sf3 tes emacs of Bah vice personne have wadtonaly - ben able vo send leters on offical blue Boeke Tow he ni ued Gen Solan co also send Electronic Bhieys (eblueys) a Photo Blueys and Fax Bhieys which are 6 a3 erro printed out in colour: This means that ree Pee Electronic mal can be delivered within 24 eae te Fronts even to some of the more remote toa member of Tocations.. «which may account for the cree scarily of BEPO material Cy UK forces have been present ith Pearce) the ISAF from the start of operations in 2001. Troop numbers peaked at 10,000 personnel in late 2009. The UK his been the second! largest conttbutor afer the United States. The Bridsh contributions to the ISAF force have been given various ‘Operation’ names over the period The cover illustrated (Pig 12) i rom Operation Jacana which involved 43 Commando Royal Marines, US forces, - Australian SAS and the Norwegian FSK. Tewasa ‘mopping up" exercise to kill or eapture AIQs after 1 previous operatic ran from Apri to July 2002n Khost and Fig 12 Cover snd Taliban rebels from Operation Ancona Jneana, dated ‘ 4 6 uty 2008, Paka prenines % from Forces ~ Fost Ome 212 United States of America i (backstamped The US has been by far the langest we Bristol 13 July conuibtor tothe ISA, wih at nes over 4s 2002) Reduced two thitds ofall combat personnel Ast ws? 20 Feary 2018, 5,500 of ISAS 52,585 yo personnel were American The emai 1 08 19.086 coming from 48 different nations. ig 13 shone a cover sent from APO AF. 09355, located at Kandahar, on 2 Op Uecaoa, Fig 13 US cover Ociaber 2004 mek Si Sent from APO AE Mal 09355, located co 29 Cee at Kandahar, on [Nation oho hee contributed lo the ISAF: 22 October 2004 Albania, Armenia, Australia, Ausra, Azerbaijan, Babrain, (Reduced) Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, ‘Goech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France Georgia, Germany; Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Tay Jordan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norwas; Poland, Portugal, Roman Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tong, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States, There may he others asit has been dificult to keep track of troop deplosients over the decadedong involvement. Other ‘countries have also been involved, but without formally being prt of the ISAF For example, China has provided mine- ‘learance and police taining for Afghan Security Forces, Dutalways resisted the deployment of troops to Afghanistan apparently because of fears that casualties would provoke kage stale ant-war protests because of China's One Child Policy GSM. July 2014 125