HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

Special Forces began training the Afghanistan National Army (ANA), in May 2002 at the Kabul Military Training
Center (KMTC). By July 2003, TF PHOENIX took over KMTC. Seven ANA battalions had been trained.
isolation facility (ISOFAC) duties at K2. The
CJSOTF maintained OPCON of the SEAL task
unit and the CA and PSYOPs teams. It also
exercised TACON of the various CSOF elements
that remained in country.
With the establishment of an interim Afghan
government in the winter of 2001-02, the
CJSOTF’s mission changed from UW to FID.
CJSOTF elements still conducted a significant
number of SR and DA missions through and
with various Afghan forces to capture and
destroy anti-coalition militia (ACM). The chief
assigned task, however, turned to enhancing the
security institutions of the interim government,
mainly through training and advising Afghan
forces. FOB 31 established its headquarters in
Kabul and began training the fledgling Afghan
National Army (ANA). FOB 32 transitioned
with FOB 33 in May 2002 and assumed command
and control of SOF in southern
Afghanistan from Paktika Province west to
Herat. FOB 192 occupied K2, but controlled
detachments working in the northern half of the
country, from Khowst Province to Mazar-e
Sharif.
Two conditions, however, would define this
first “post UW” rotation for the SF detachments
in firebases across Afghanistan. First, most of
the SOF firebases remained under CJSOTF control
through 2006 and thus defined the
CJSOTF’s force concentrations along the eastern
and southern boundary with Pakistan. Minus a
few detachments in Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, and
Konduz, SOF found itself principally occupied
with controlling terrain along the border with
Pakistan. Second, ODAs lacked a supply of government-sanctioned,
and therefore legitimate,
forces; at least in the eyes of the international
community and the emerging Afghan government.
Facing an impossible task of securing
their respective areas of operation (AOs) themselves,
the ODAs had to use the militias of warlords
of questionable loyalty to secure terrain
and dislodge ACM. In the north, where NA
forces were still largely dependent on American
sanction for their legitimacy, this challenge
proved tough but manageable. In the south,
where Pashtuns comprised the majority of the
population, the ability to cobble together sufficient
Afghan forces proved problematic.
Additionally, the ODAs had to secure their firebases
by hiring and training additional Afghans
for force protection.
In April 2002, CENTCOM also established
CJTF 180, assigning it responsibility for the
entire Joint Operational Area (JOA) that comprised
Afghanistan. Interestingly, CENTCOM
also “chopped” the CJSOTF OPCON to the
CJTF, severing the relationship with Combined
Forces Special Operations Component
Command (CFSOCC). The CJSOTF would take
its mission directives and guidance from the
CJTF until December 2005. Thus, the history of
SOF and its employment in Afghanistan would
be significantly characterized by its command
relationship with the CJTF.
In summer 2002, 20th SFG (A) assumed the
CJSOTF from 3rd SFG (A), marking the first
time a National Guard SF Group executed such
duties. In the fall, FOBs 201, 195, and 72 rotated
into theater, replacing battalions from 3rd
SFG (A). The CJSOTF would maintain three
battalions for Afghanistan through September
2003, with one battalion primarily aligned in the
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