HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM
Afghanistan
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
the U.S. Government determined that Usama
bin Laden (UBL) and his al Qaeda (AQ) terrorist
network were responsible. The Taliban regime
in Afghanistan harbored UBL and his supporters,
and President Bush demanded that the
Taliban hand them over to U.S. authorities.
When the Taliban refused, the President
ordered U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to
eliminate Afghanistan as a sponsor and safe
haven for international terrorists.
The primary objective was to
destroy the al Qaeda terrorist network
and capture or kill UBL.
Afghanistan is a land-locked
country about the size of Texas
with a population of around 24 million.
The massive mountain ranges
and remote valleys in the north and
east contrasted with the near desert-like conditions
of the plains to the south and west. Road
and rail networks were minimal and in disrepair.
The rough terrain would challenge any
U.S. military effort, especially moving large
numbers of conventional troops. Because bombing
and cruise-missile attacks, which could be
launched quite soon, would probably not be decisive,
and because a ground invasion might be
decisive, but could not begin for some time, even
conventional staff officers realized that an
unconventional option could fill the gap between
the conventional courses of action.
In September 2001, CENTCOM did not have
an unconventional warfare (UW) plan for
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Afghanistan. Initially, CENTCOM only tasked
the Special Operations Command, Central
(SOCCENT) with Combat Search and Rescue
(CSAR), but SOCCENT planners, nonetheless,
developed a plan for a UW campaign for
Afghanistan in September. Late that month,
after SOCCENT briefed its UW campaign plan,
the CENTCOM Commander, General Tommy
Franks, said, “Okay. Do it.” Thus, SOF would
be his main effort against the Taliban.
The Taliban (taken from “Tulaba,” referring
to students of Islam) was a Sunni Islamic,
pro-Pashtun movement that ruled most of the
country from 1996 until 2001, except for some
small areas held by Northern Alliance forces
northeast of Kabul and in the northwest of
the country.
U.S. Army Special Forces doctrine described
seven phases of a U.S. sponsored insurgency:
psychological preparation, initial contact, infiltration,
organization, buildup, combat operations,
and demobilization. Other government
agencies, such as the State Department or the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), took the lead
role in the first three phases. U.S. SOF and
DOD would typically take the leading role in the
next three phases: organizing the insurgent
forces; buildup (training and equipping the
insurgent forces); and conducting combat operations
with the insurgents. The final phase
would be demobilization, which would involve a
variety of U.S. agencies and the newly-installed
Operation RESOLUTE EAGLE
After 9/11, the first SOF counterterrorism operations were not conducted in Afghanistan or
even in the Middle East, but in Europe. Islamic extremists had transited the Balkans for years
and had been involved in ethnic warfare in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In late September 2001, U.S.
SOF learned that Islamic extremists with connections to Usama bin Laden were in Bosnia.
SOCEUR forces quickly put together Operation RESOLUTE EAGLE to capture them. U.S.
SOF surveilled the terrorists, detained one of the groups, and facilitated the capture of another
group by coalition forces. These raids resulted in the capture of all the suspected terrorists
and incriminating evidence for prosecution and intelligence exploitation.