page_title: Khosrow Sofla
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Khosrow Sofla / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: A farmer in the Arghandab District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
context_page_description: Khosrow Sofla was a village in the Arghandab District of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan that was demolished by the United States Army in October and November 2010. After experiencing high casualties resulting from firefights and improvised explosive devices outside the village, Lieutenant Colonel David S. Flynn of the American 1-320th field artillery, a part of the 101st Airborne Division, ordered villagers to evacuate Khosrow Sofla, Khosrow Ulya, Tarok Kolache, and Lower Babur and used aerial bombardment to partially or wholly destroy the villages.
context_section_description: In 2010, American President Barack Obama's policy of "troop surge" brought an additional 30,000 American soldiers to Afghanistan, and led to a more than two-fold increase in airstrikes, Predator drone strikes, insurgent casualties, and a six-fold increase in special forces operations. American military officials decided to follow their widely publicized offensive in Marja, Helmand Province, with an effort to seize territories in adjacent Kandahar Province. American forces dubbed their offensive "Operation Dragon Strike," and referred to Kandahar as "The Heart of Darkness" because of resistance to American and NATO presence there.
  Following substantial military engagements between U.S. Army and Afghan Taliban forces outside Khosrow Sofla in the summer and fall of 2010, villagers were ordered by American military officials to defuse IEDs in the village before 28 October, or have the village destroyed.
  During interviews after the destruction of the Khosrow Sofla and other villages, villagers stated that they had agreed with local Taliban upon what paths and hours of the day would be safe for travel.
caption: Fruit farmer in Arghandab District, near Khosrow Sofla
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