HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

not designed to form a JSOTF. DAGGER lacked
planners, joint fires, and logistics personnel
needed to sustain current operations, much less
plan for future operations. These same challenges
applied when JFSOCC established the
CJSOTF-S, more commonly known as TF K-
BAR, on 15 November.
TF K-BAR initially established forward
headquarters at Camp Rhino with the Marines
on 22 November. By 15 December, however, it
permanently moved to Kandahar Airfield. A
number of diverse elements comprised K-BAR:
CSOF from Denmark, Canada, Norway, New
Zealand, Germany, and Australia; two SEAL
Platoons from SEAL Team 3; elements of 720th
Special Tactics Group; and A Company, 1st BN,
5th SFG (A), which DAGGER provided. Like
DAGGER, K-BAR remained under operational
control (OPCON) to the JFSOCC. By the time
that it stood up, however, the Combined Forces
Land Component Commander (CFLCC) exercised
tactical control (TACON) over TF K-BAR
to synchronize battlespace for the introduction
of conventional forces.
K-BAR began executing large-scale DA missions
in January 2002. The first mission of this
kind occurred at Zhawar Kili, a C2 complex in
Paktia Province located in southeastern
Afghanistan. The SEAL platoon, ST-3E, executed
the operation in conjunction with the Marine
TF-58 out of Rhino. Following an aerial bombardment
on 6 January, ST-3E was inserted into
Zhawar Kili to capture surviving AQ members.
They found a series of caves, tunnels, and intricate
rooms that required exploitation. The mission
lasted eight days. ST-3E and supporting
Marines found numerous documents and other
items of intelligence value, including one poster
of bin Laden complete with a plane crashing into
a building in the background. After eight days
on the ground, the force withdrew having
dropped 406,000 pounds of ordnance, destroyed
a vast tunnel complex, and killed an estimated
10-15 Taliban.
The day after the SEALs and Marines inserted
into Zhawar Kili, A/1/5th SFG (A) and a small
force of Canadian SOF conducted a raid against
Yahya Khehl in one of the first joint U.S.-
Canadian operation since World War II, and one
of the largest SOF DA missions since JUST
CAUSE. Transported by seven MH-53s from the
108
20th SOS, the assault force cleared all four compounds
on the target and detained several
HVTs. The operation vividly demonstrated the
challenges of conducting such DA missions in
Afghanistan. Rotor-wash stirred up large clouds
of dust and dirt, causing dangerous brown-outs
obscuring the landing zones. Only luck and the
considerable skill of the 20th SOS pilots avoided
serious mishaps.
Over the next two weeks, the coalition contingent
of TF K-BAR conducted four successive
SSE/DA missions, including a joint Australian
SAS and SEAL Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV) SR
mission and airfield survey. While only one target
yielded any significant intelligence, these
missions marked the first combat operations by
most countries in the war on terrorism and
enabled K-BAR to fuse the different SOF forces
into a combined team.
The raid against Hazar Khadam, formerly a
compound inhabited by Mullah Omar, demonstrated
the difficulty of targeting an indistinct
enemy in Afghanistan, especially in the early
months of the war when a great deal of intelligence
was uncorroborated. Lying about 100
miles northeast of Kandahar, Hazar Khadam
consisted of two distinct compounds about one
and a half kilometers apart. Intelligence suggested
that a large number of Taliban still held
the compound, but that numerous civilians also
resided on the target. TF K-BAR assigned A/1/5
the mission of securing potential HVTs at the
compounds.
On 23 January, Marine and Air Force SOF
helicopters inserted the detachments of A/1/5
onto the two objectives. While one group moved
by foot to the northern-most compound, codenamed
Objective KELLY, the other traveled by
two HMMWVs (high mobility multi-wheeled
vehicle) to the other southern target designated
Objective BRIDGET. Despite the occasional
barking dog, both groups reached their objectives
undetected as an AC-130 provided overwatch.
When the ground force commander gave
the command, the two forces simultaneously
stormed both KELLY and BRIDGET.
After blowing a breach through the wall surrounding
the compound, two ODAs stormed
KELLY and began clearing the nine separate
buildings that comprised this sprawling compound
situated on the slope of a hill. Several