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23 November 2001 |
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U.S. commandos inside Afghanistan have been given historic autonomy to plan and execute attacks when needed, resulting in "hundreds" of deaths of enemy soldiers, military officials say. One official described the special-operations forces' (SOF) rules of engagement as an "unrestricted hunting license" for Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist army now in disarray. (..) Sources say small teams of Delta Force soldiers, and other commando units, have ambushed the enemy and killed them in small batches. "From the reports I've seen, they have killed in the hundreds," a senior administration official said. (..) Gen. Franks, who as head of U.S. Central Command is directing the war in Afghanistan, is part of the "conventional" Army, and thus suspect in the eyes of hardened covert warriors. But some in the community are applauding the general's willingness to give SOF their loosest rein since the Vietnam War. Then, Army Green Berets infiltrated enemy territory and attacked at will. (..) "You've got to give these guys freedom to plan direct action because the intelligence is so fragile," an administration official said. "In conventional warfare, you can rely on older intelligence of enemy positions because the enemy is not as mobile. In direct action, they're going after people. They have to do their own intelligence and act on it right away. You have to give these guys some slack." In some cases, soldiers have used sniper fire, taking advantage of stealth and superior night-sight equipment. In other encounters, soldiers used Barret 50-caliber weapons, a heavy sniper rifle that can take out an armored vehicle, or a person, at 1,500 yards. (..) Personnel in the special-operations community say Afghanistan has provided a playing field for SOF specialists to ply two classic trades at once: unconventional warfare and direct action. In unconventional warfare, Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, have worked with the Northern Alliance and other opposition groups. The U.S. soldiers, trained in indigenous customs and language, give tactical advice, supply arms and bond with commanders who will one day run the country. In "direct action" carried out by Delta Force and other SOF units, commandos find targets for fighter jets to strike, blow up some targets themselves and conduct hit-and-run raids. (..)
Delta Force is under the control of U.S. Joint Special Operations
Command (JSOC), located at Pope Air Force Base, which borders Fort
Bragg, N.C., home to Army Special Operations Command. JSOC not only
oversees the super-secret Delta anti-terrorism unit, but also the
Navy's
Seal Team Six. (..) Under the command of Army Maj. Gen. Del Dailey,
JSOC units train in total secrecy. Few outside the units know who
they
are or what they do. Gen. Dailey, an ex-member of the 800-strong
Delta
unit, personally briefed President Bush on their missions in
Afghanistan
before the war began. (..) |
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