What did Michael Alford serve as, as part of the ISAF force against a known Taliban stronghold and center of opium production?
Helmand province campaign The Helmand province campaign was a series of military operations conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces against Taliban insurgents in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Their objective was to control a province that was known to be a Taliban stronghold, and a center of opium production. 
Ismatullah Muslim Ismatullah, an Achakzai Pashtun from southern Kandahar, rose to the rank of major in the Afghan army, after having undergone training in the Soviet Union. In 1979 he led his tribe to join the mujahideen resistance against the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and due to his important tribal following, became one of the principal mujahideen commanders in the Kandahar area. As well as military operations, he also perpetuated the tribal tradition of smuggling various goods across the border, including heroin.