Bump!
Posted on 09/13/2004 3:00:58 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Special Forces soldiers from Fort Bragg raided two villages in the Zabul province Friday in a continued effort to keep Taliban guerrillas off balance in southeastern Afghanistan.
The soldiers didn't encounter any enemy forces, but they said such raids keep the guerrillas jumping.
The operation was part of a two-week special operations campaign targeting militias in the Zabul province along the border with Pakistan. Lt. Col. Joe Osborne, deputy commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan, said the Special Forces soldiers are trying to eliminate the militias.
He said Special Forces soldiers are well-suited for the mission because they are able to eliminate the guerrillas in a "surgical fashion without making new enemies." On Friday, after searching for guerrillas, the Green Berets took time to talk with villagers and hand out candy to children.
The raid came a few weeks after Rozi Khan, the leader of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, was killed by special operations soldiers. Khan was suspected of kidnapping aid workers and financing attacks on U.S. forces, including a roadside bomb that killed two Special Forces soldiers from Fort Bragg in May.
The Green Berets said since Khan's death the Taliban is leaderless in the region and the guerrillas are trying to reorganize. The raid was an attempt to keep that from happening. The Zabul province has remained a guerrilla stronghold since American and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists almost three years ago.
Officials worry about a surge of violence in the region as the Oct. 9 presidential election approaches.
3 Chinook helicopters
The Special Forces soldiers led the dawn raid, landing in three C-47 Chinook cargo helicopters on the outskirts of the village. Due to security concerns, the Special Operations Task Force requested that the soldiers' names and specific unit not be reported.
About 30 soldiers in the Afghan National Army assisted in the raid. The Special Forces soldiers, who specialize in training foreign troops, said they are using the Afghan soldiers on raids to try to give them legitimacy in the country.
During the search of the villages, the Afghan soldiers surrounded each mud-walled compound. The villages were criss-crossed with dirt roads, and goats and chickens wandered freely.
Led by the Green Berets, the Afghan soldiers searched each compound for weapons and Taliban fighters. Guerrillas are known to come into the villages in the evenings to rest, then leave at first light.
On Friday, the Afghan and American soldiers met no resistance. The Green Berets said they found it strange that only women, children and old men were left in the villages. But they found evidence that many other people had been in the villages recently, including a house with mats and blankets for at least two dozen people.
The villagers told the soldiers that the young men from the villages had traveled to another province to work. The Green Berets said that was unlikely.
"They don't work on Fridays," one of the team's weapons sergeants said. Muslims traditionally rest on their holy day.
The Special Forces soldiers said that Naval special operations troops had conducted a raid in the same area, and that may have spooked Taliban fighters.
Despite finding no weapons or fighters, the Special Forces soldiers said the raid was not a failure.
One of the Green Berets said just searching the village makes it harder for the Taliban to use it as a refuge. He said that the goal is to keep the guerrillas on the run.
Osborne agreed. "You force them into survival mode."
Staff writer Kevin Maurer is in Afghanistan, covering the work of U.S. special operations soldiers.
Military *ping*!
The baddest of the bad.
Bump!
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." -- George Orwell. ...
Good hunting!
Go gettem boys! Baggem & taggem, there's a lad!
bmp
"Fear what hunts in the night, death waits in the darkness". NSDQ
De opresso liber.
Bump!
Smohing out the bad guys ~ we do it best ~ Bump!
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