HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

overthrow the government of Afghanistan
(GOA). Bad weather in Uzbekistan and northern
Afghanistan delayed the infiltration of the
first ODAs in Afghanistan until the night of 19
October 2001. This insertion, and the ones that
followed, required a hazardous, two and a half
hour flight, at night, through high mountains,
and in extremely dicey weather.
After the first 12-man detachment, ODA 595,
reached its LZ south of Mazar-e Sharif, it linked
up with General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord
with a strong power base in this area. ODA
595 split into two elements to better assist
Dostum’s scattered forces.
Team Alpha began calling in close air support
(CAS) from U.S. aircraft, but Dostum initially
forbade the team from moving close to the
Taliban lines. He told the SF soldiers, “500 of
my men can be killed, but not one American can
even be injured or you will leave.” Soon, the
team chose their own observation posts (OPs),
and their calls for fire became more effective.
The massive CAS, brought down by the
team, had a huge adverse psychological effect on
the Taliban and a correspondingly positive effect
on General Dostum’s men. Starting on 22
October, Team Alpha rode on horses with
Dostum’s cavalry, and from OPs, team members
called in CAS missions. In one 18-hour period,
they destroyed over 20 armored and 20 support
vehicles. At first, the Taliban sent in reinforcements,
but all that did was provide more targets
for the SOF in the OPs. Numerous key command
posts, armored vehicles, troop concentrations,
and AAA pieces were destroyed by air
strikes.
Meanwhile, Team Bravo, also mounted on
horseback, moved south and interdicted Taliban
forces in the Alma Tak Mountain Range,
destroying over 65 enemy vehicles, 12 command
positions, and a large enemy ammunition storage
bunker. ODA 534, which was inserted in
early November to assist Mohammed Atta’s
forces, also directed CAS to similar effect.
Mazar-e Sharif fell to Dostum and the ODA
on 10 November. The capture of Mazar-e Sharif
was the first major victory for the U.S.-led coalition
in the war in Afghanistan, giving it a strategic
foothold and an airfield in northern
Afghanistan. The victory once again validated
SF’s UW role as a combat multiplier. This template
was used elsewhere in Afghanistan.
Objectives Rhino and Gecko
On the night of 19-20 October 2001, U.S.
SOF airdropped into Afghanistan, seizing two
objectives and demonstrating America’s ability
to assault into Taliban strongholds. The plan
called for pre-assault fires and then a Ranger
airborne insertion on Objective Rhino and a helicopter
insertion/assault on Objective Gecko.
“Right off the bat,” Rear Admiral Albert Calland, SOCCENT Commander, recalled, “we
knew that the Northern Alliance was working, we knew the history that the Soviets had, and
that bringing a large land force into Afghanistan was not the way to do business. So, it
became quickly apparent that the way to do this was to get 5th Group and put them in place
to start a UW campaign.”
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