![]() The drones had fired 115 missiles at targets and laser-designated an additional 525 for other aircraft. The military part, centered on Predator drones, unarmed and armed, with their small profile and high-resolution cameras, proved disappointing. The humanitarian part of the air campaign eventually totaled more than two million rations for the starving populace. The air campaign against the Taliban, which included bombing military targets and airdrops of humanitarian supplies for the civilian population, began 19 days later, on Oct. 18, in the White House cabinet room, Bush said, “The war starts today.” But the Special Forces teams would have the primary role at the start of the operation. Additional units were to be included, with some arriving well in advance of the Green Berets and others, such as the Rangers, arriving afterward. They would both advise Northern Alliance warlords who had been fighting the Taliban for six years and assist them with logistical support and coordinated American air strikes. The following day Rumsfeld had a new plan on his desk, one using teams of Special Forces operators, the Green Berets, as the lead ground element. Rumsfeld angrily rejected this plan, saying, “I want men on the ground now!” Tommy Franks, then-commanding general of Central Command ( CENTCOM), who was responsible for all military operations in Southwest Asia, told them that it would take six months to launch the campaign. ![]() Bush and then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Gen. The original plan, proposed in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks, called for a conventional force invasion of Afghanistan with 60,000 troops. Its goal was to overthrow the Taliban government of Afghanistan that was providing a safe haven for al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, and in the process hopefully eliminate al Qaeda itself. OEF-A was the military response to the 9/11 attacks. Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan (OEF-A) had just shifted into high gear. At about the same time, another team, ODA 555, landed hundreds of miles south in the Panjshir Valley, was linking up with another Northern Alliance force. It was hoped they would meet later in the day with the Afghan warlord, Gen. Greetings were brief, and within minutes the Special Forces operatives and combat controllers shouldered their 100-pound rucksacks and extra bags of gear and supplies, that included everything from computers and sophisticated communications gear to sacks of horse feed, and followed their guides down a mountain trail to their base camp. Gradually shapes emerged out of the shadows – a small group of Afghan Northern Alliance soldiers together with four American advisers who had been in country for about two weeks. Mitch Nelson, scanned the dark landscape around the landing zone. Total elapsed time of the insertion: less than a minute. As soon as the last man had exited and after a quick visual check to make sure nothing had been left behind, the helicopter lifted off and departed. The instant the ramp at its rear dropped, 14 heavily laden men, 12 from Operational Detachment-Alpha (ODA) 595 and two Air Force combat controllers, grabbed their gear and extra supplies and rushed out. 19, 2001, 39 days after al Qaeda terrorists attacked American soil, a special operations MH-47E Chinook helicopter touched down in a remote section of the Darya Suf Valley in northern Afghanistan.
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