"Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious"
Posted on 09/24/2002 7:33:08 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
CORONADO -- The occupants of the multistory fortress perched at 13,000 feet in the Afghan mountains had no idea they were being watched.For several days in February, the people inside the suspected al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold were monitored by members of a U.S.-led special operations unit called Task Force K-Bar. They reluctantly emerged from the fortress at Ali Kheyl when helicopter gunships swooped overhead in the middle of the night and ordered them out.
It was then the U.S. special operations troops breathed a sigh of relief: The operation revealed the occupants of the fortress included 56 children.
"It averted a tragedy," said Lt. Cmdr. Darryn James, a spokesman for the Navy SEALs. "That probably happened more than people think."
The children had not been seen until then because their parents weren't allowing them outside in the bitter Afghan winter. Their discovery was made possible by deployment of a new kind of versatile, special operations unit known as K-Bar.
Defense analysts say the United States may come to increasingly rely on such units as the military realigns itself to fight the war on terrorism.
The Ali Kheyl mission was one of about 75 carried out by the 1,300 U.S. commandos in K-Bar and their counterparts from seven countries under the command of Commodore Robert S. Harward, a veteran Navy SEAL, who recently provided a briefing on the unit.
In a first, K-Bar's troops worked hand-in-hand with FBI agents who were brought in to help determine which prisoners should be let go and which were "keepers" headed for further interrogation, Harward said.
Special operations forces have played support roles before. But in Afghanistan, commanders gave K-Bar far wider latitude and more authority as it rooted out al-Qaida and Taliban from mountain hideouts.
"They were taking the war to the terrorist network," James said. "K-Bar special operators have done more to prevent another Sept. 11 than almost anyone else."
Between October and the end of March, K-Bar -- named for a military knife used by SEALs -- took 107 detainees and tallied at least 115 confirmed enemy deaths, Harward said from his office at Naval Special Warfare headquarters in Coronado.
In Harward, K-Bar had a well-traveled commander who learned fluent Farsi in his youth in Tehran, Iran, where his father worked in the U.S. embassy. During a summer off from high school, he had hitchhiked through Afghanistan, but the land he saw during Operation Enduring Freedom had become much harsher, drier and poorer.
"It just seems like it had worn very hard," he said. "I think hope did not exist in their vocabulary."
In its size and scope, K-Bar -- the vision of Rear Adm. Bert Calland, now in charge of Navy SEALs -- added a new page to the playbook of the U.S. military, which in the past typically used Army, Navy and Air Force commandos in small numbers with limited support roles.
Missions included a search-and-destroy operation in January against a honeycomb complex of 70 caves near the Pakistani border. Inside, troops found piles of ammunition, tanks, rockets and communication equipment along with al-Qaida recruiting posters.
Hostile fighters fled the caves to nearby hills and K-Bar forces called in carrier-based Navy airstrikes, killing an unknown number of al-Qaida members.
"It's what I call the 'Gilligan's Island' operation. It started out as seven hours and ended up being nine days," said Harward, a rock-ribbed 46-year-old with deep-set blue eyes.
In late February, K-Bar captured Mullah Khairullah Kahirkawa, a former Taliban governor, Harward said. The night operation was put together with 30 minutes' notice when unmanned aircraft spotted a convoy leaving a compound where Khairullah was believed to be, he said.
As they struck deeper into al-Qaida's power structure, K-Bar began to see a new kind of enemy emerge.
Pointing to a photo his men took of an al-Qaida surveillance post high in the mountains, Harward said matter-of-factly: "We saw here, for the first time, when we killed these guys, these were not the dark-skinned Afghans. These were the red-haired, white-faced Chechens." The suspected al-Qaida members, who appeared to be well-funded and well-equipped, wore Adidas shoes as they manned an anti-helicopter weapon, Harward said.
K-Bar attracted some unwanted attention in a Jan. 23 raid at Hazar Qadam that killed about a dozen people who turned out not to be al-Qaida or Taliban. But who they were remains unclear. Harward said Afghanistan is a place where the line between friend and foe is often blurred.
Harward said his men opened fire only after an Army Special Forces soldier was shot and wounded in the ankle.
"There were allegations that we shot people in their sleep, that we assassinated people," said Harward, who dismisses such claims. "If we want to assassinate someone, we just put two bullets in their head."
Harward said K-Bar's operations overall were a success, and validation of the extensive training poured into special operations forces, from rock climbing to underwater swimming to cold-weather training in Alaska.
"We won the war in Afghanistan with relatively a small number of guys on the ground because they had those skill sets that are so important," Harward said.
To analysts, it's no surprise that the U.S. military tapped the Navy's "Sea, Air, Land" teams, who usually work with one foot in the water, to head up a force fighting in one of the world's few landlocked countries.
"It reflects the diversity of the training they get," said Ron O'Rourke, a naval analyst with Congressional Research Service. "They're not just swimmers and divers but they're trained to do other things once they get inland."
Some analysts maintain that U.S. weapons would have been of little use in Afghanistan without special operations forces on the ground to guide them to target.
James noted that at Zhawar Kili, special operators found craters outside the entrance to a mountain cave and scorch marks from U.S. cruise missiles launched in 1998 by President Clinton against Osama bin Laden, but the insides of the caves were untouched.
"Because the country is so primitive, without people on the ground to collect intelligence, find targets and get a good feel for the ebb and flow of combat, we simply would not have had the information we needed to prevail," said Dr. Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute.
Harward, a former fellow at the RAND think-tank in Santa Monica, said he sees Afghanistan as the first battle in the war on terrorism.
"I think it's going to be a long war. ... What people don't understand is we're dealing with a whole different enemy. Time is irrelevant to them. Targets are everywhere," he said.
"If you think it's hard to get on a plane now. If you think the stock market's had repercussions now, the potential is greater than ever."
I broke way too many K-Bars and Navy Mk-2's going about the business of daily duties . If ya love yer troop give em a Randall which IMHO and experience will be the best thing one can do for their loved one going into harms way.
Stay Safe !!
His Navy rank is Captain, but was called Commodore to denote his status as the commander of Task Force (TF) K-Bar.
At the same time K-Bar was around, they also had TF Bowie and TF Dagger. The military likes to start operations and use related names for TF's, areas, operations, etc.
The "trusty rusty K-bar" has a very deep association with UDT/SEALs going way back.
A Mk-13 Day-Night flare was always taped to it with green riggers tape. A SEAL or UDT at his most elemental is a naked warrior in khaki UDT trunks with a web belt and K-bar knife with Mk-13 flare.
(sigh) The point is that he didn't really "try to do" anything. Half-assed bombing raids of aspirin factories don't count as a "try" just because some things blowed up.
Maybe if he'd done something substantial then those accusations of "Wag the Dog" would have quieted down. But that would have required an expenditure of political capital - he would have risked seeing his poll numbers drop if he, say, sent troops in. Can't have that; his Presidency and popularity was much more important than the country and its citizens' safety. Easier just to put your finger on a map and drop a few bombs there for show.
Hence the criticism. Too bad indeed - too bad the guy was such a self-serving scumbag.
"Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious"
And I hope he gets ample opportunity to ply his trade for our nation!
Great Tools deserve great care and proper usage that they were hopefully designed for. But when yer up to your hips in grenade pins ect ect war story, BS, BS, yada yada yada ..... ya try and plan ahead and make sure history doesn't repeat itself and leave ya with out a "tool"......:o)
Stay Safe !!
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Most people don't even know that an old plain steel K-bar can be wire-wheeled and polished to a bright silver mirror finish. Of course, if you breath on it, it develops surface rust in 5 minutes. Great training for gear maintenance.
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