What WAS that???
It's the Aliens... Nobody's listening... the Aliens...
The composition of the forces lost tells us plenty about the mission. They were supporting Operation Red Wing, which is the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban leadership on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar are specific targets of this operation.
While this is purely speculation, the ferocity of the attack on the ground team, the composition of the US relief force, and the sophistication of the attack on the Night Stalker may indicate the ground team sniffed out an important node in the al Qaeda/Taliban chain of command. CENTCOM states units are moving to blocking positions to prevent the escape of the attacking unit.
The hunt continues.