Operation Confidence was a military and political operation launched by the United States in Sector V71EHDSQ1A0E on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border from 2011 to 2014. The objective of the operation was to win the hearts and minds of the local Afghan villages while gradually withdrawing American troops from the region and turning over security to the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. The Americans were initially successful in establishing several forward operating bases (FOB) near the villages of Lashkar Gah, Awi, Surobi, Gereshk, Eran, Obeh, and Sangin, but mounting American losses, militia and Taliban resistance, and IED attacks resulted in the concomitant decline of political support for the operation in the United States and a decline in local Afghan support for the American military presence.
History[]
In 2011, as the United States ended its involvement in the Iraq War, the ISAF coalition in Afghanistan also prepared to gradually evacuate the international troops in Afghanistan back to their home countries while turning over security responsibilities to the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. The ISAF commander John R. Allen responded by launching "Operation Confidence" in Sector V71EHDSQ1A0E (a region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border) to establish contact and amity with the local Afghan villages of Lashkar Gah, Awi, Surobi, Gereshk, Lam, Diva, Eran, Obeh, Khost, and Sangin, prevent the Taliban insurgency from acquiring a foothold in any of the villages, win the hearts and minds of the locals while handing over security responsibilities to newly-trained Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police forces, and allow for the phased withdrawal of US forces from the region. The operation was headquartered from a large military base to the south of Lashkar Gah, located on the highway from Lashkar Gah in the north to Awi in the south.
Operation Confidence was divided into several sectors: Confidence Alpha (the American headquarters), Confidence Bravo (Lashkar Gah), Confidence Charlie (Gereshk), Confidence Delta (Awi), Confidence Echo (Surobi), Confidence Fox (Eran), Confidence Golf (Lam), Confidence Hotel (Obeh), and Confidence India (Sangin). Each of these sectors was named for forward operating bases (FOBs) established by the US Army near the principal settlements, and the average operation consisted of American squads visiting local villages to gather intelligence and search the vicinity for IEDs, Buffalo mine-protected clearance vehicles establishing FOBs, roads, waterworks, and other structures to improve the security of the region and the standards of living of the local Afghan villages, Husky vehicle-mounted mine detection (VMMD) vehicles clearing the main highways of bombs, and, occasionally, American squads, FOB mortars, and airstrikes targeting cadres of Taliban and Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM). At first, the Americans - who were essentially given a blank check to secure the vital region - were successful in establishing contact with almost every village in the region, apart from Lam and Diva (which were isolated by mountain ranges) and Khost (the highway to which was closed because of IEDs).

US troops patrolling the Awi sector
However, the operation began to fall apart as American military losses in the region mounted. Occasionally, US convoys or squads would suffer heavy losses from surprise IED attacks or Taliban ambushes as they traversed the highways and rural roads of the sector, having gotten careless about first sending Huskies to sweep the roads for mines. The Americans were fairly successful in utilizing their superior firepower to cope with their inferior numbers, calling in airstrikes on Taliban formations, or using their bases' mortars to repel Taliban attacks. However, the Americans began to run into supply problems, as they had spread themselves thin by erecting several FOBs, and each of them required airlifted supplies in order for their mortars to function and for the FOBs themselves to provide supplies to American squads in the nearby village. The Americans were able to deal with several early Militia and Taliban attacks, and they also destroyed several opium plantations in the southwestern sector to deny the Taliban a major source of income and win hearts and minds. However, Gereshk, Surobi, and Awi would gradually become militia strongholds as the ACM destroyed American waterworks and the insurgents continued to set up IEDs and ambushes. US special forces units were deployed to several FOBs to train Afghan National Army squads to collect intelligence from the locals and serve as reserves for the defense of the FOBs, but, on the few occasions when the ANA were sent out to do battle with the insurgents, they were almost always massacred due to their inferior training and morale.

Confidence sector at the height of the first Taliban offensive
The United States was also met with a major Taliban offensive in 2012, with Taliban technicals and cadres pouring in from Pakistan to capture villages in Afghanistan and establish new bases. They were supported by the weaker, but more localized ACM cadres, and the Taliban offensives particularly affected Confidence Charlie (Gereshk), Confidence Delta (Awi), Confidence Echo (Surobi), Confidence Golf (Lam), and Confidence India (Sangin), with the first three sectors seeing their villages switch their allegiance to the Militia or Taliban and become hotbeds of insurgent activity, and the latter two sectors holding out against Taliban attacks, especially Confidence India, where the small US special forces unit defending the base held out in the face of superior enemy numbers. The offensive ultimately petered out, but the surviving Taliban cadres continued to win the support of local Afghans and turn them against the USA and the ANA. By 24 June 2012, the Coalition forces and the insurgents had clashed 46 times (with 56.5% in the USA's favor), 22 ISAF and 4 ANA companies had been lost, and 26 Taliban and 9 Militia cadres had been destroyed. There were also 2 Militia cadres, 25 Taliban cadres, and 10 opium crops scattered across the operational area.

Confidence sector during the second Taliban offensive
In 2013, the Taliban launched a renewed offensive, and they were able to destroy Confidence Delta near Awi, forcing the Americans to rebuild their FOB as "Juliet Base". In addition, the Taliban forced the Americans in the Confidence Echo sector to hold to the defenses of Echo Base by concentrating much of their manpower in the area, making Surobi too dangerous to approach, and also forcing the outnumbered and outgunned Americans to stay put. By this time, the American public's patience with the war had run out, and the US Congress refused to approve any more military expenditure for the operation. This deprived the Americans of their ability to establish new FOBs, engage in public works projects in the Afghan villages, and, perhaps most importantly, call in drone reconnaissance missions and airstrikes, which they had previously relied on in order to help remove the Taliban's advantage in numbers. Awi and Gereshk returned to being loyal to the Afghan government as the result of US mine-sweeping operations and hearts-and-minds visits to the villages, but Surobi remained a militia stronghold as the result of the siege of Echo Base.