Serious Business: Pentagon Sends 1,000 Special Ops To Afghanistan
The Pentagon is sending 1,000 more special operations forces and support staff into Afghanistan to bolster a larger conventional troop buildup, and is revamping the way Army Green Berets and other commandos work to rid villages of the Taliban.
While much of the public focus has been on 24,000 additional American troops moving into the country this year, U.S. Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors in what could be a pivotal role in finally defeating insurgents, military sources tell FOXNews.com.
The movement comes as Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a special operator who led successful manhunts in Iraq for Al Qaeda terrorists, is about to take command in Afghanistan.
McChrystal, who underwent a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing Tuesday, is expected to put more emphasis on using commandos in counterinsurgency operations and on finding or killing key Taliban leaders.
Underscoring that theme, McChrystal has asked two veteran special operators on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, which he directs, to accompany him to Afghanistan once he wins Senate approval for a fourth star. The two are Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, who headed intelligence for the chief terrorist hunting unit in Iraq; and Brig Gen. Austin Miller, a Joint Staff director for special operations.
Military sources say Brig. Gen. Ed Reeder, who commands special operations in Afghanistan, went in-country earlier this year to revamp the way Green Beret “A” Teams, Delta Force and other special operators conduct counter-insurgency.
Green Berets, the same group that led the 2001 ouster of the Taliban from power, now primarily work out of fire support bases, often independently of conventional forces. They fight to control the Taliban-infested border with Pakistan, and train the Afghan army.
Critics within special operations have said the A Teams need to work more closely with conventional forces and with NATO counterparts. “This would give us a needed one-two punch,” said a former operator who served in Afghanistan.
Reeder heads the new Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command. It is a mix of the more open Green Berets and Marine commandos, and the super-secret Delta Force and Navy SEALs who conduct manhunts.
The covert side works in task forces that are only identified by a secret three-digit number. They are aided by Army Rangers and a Joint Interagency Task Force made up of the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other intelligence units.
McChrystal is a former commander of Joint Special Operations Command, the home of Delta Force. He led the hunt in Iraq that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of Al Qaeda’s leading terrorists in the Middle East, in 2006.
Those who worked with him talk of a tenacious warrior who worked to link his direct-action fighters with the intelligence operatives who provided crucial information on terrorist locations. McChrystal allowed Delta operatives at the troop level (akin to a conventional platoon) to call in Predator spy drones during a mission.
“We need a Predator on that house,” is the way the former operative in Iraq described Delta’s freer rein.
The increase in special operations forces is an attempt to rebalance commando presence there, after the demands of the Iraq War stripped some of its manpower in Afghanistan. The influx will bring the total special operations forces in Afghanistan to about 5,000, a spokesman at special operations command confirmed to FOXNews.com.
Usama bin Laden is believed to be hiding across the border in Pakistan, where U.S. ground troops are forbidden. But intelligence sources say if bin Laden is located, American commandos may be dispatched to kill or capture him.
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It would be a waste of manpower……..a troup of well trained girlscouts could clean up that bunch of pussies
[...] Pat Dollard, FOX News, “Pentagon Quietly Sending 1,000 Special Operators to Afghanistan in Strategy Revamp” by Rowan Scarborough [...]
I’d be a little worried with that CINC islamic usurper and commie Democratic Congress knowing the positions of our Military ops.
We all know how they worry about the terrorists and hate to win wars.
I would like to see “take no prisoners” after the situation at Gitmo and Pelosi/CIA gate.
Even if the CIA didn’t lie, I wouldn’t blame them if they did; wouldn’t want her to know any classified info.
Keeps me awake nights.
BTW: How can they QUIETLY send in troops if it’s all over the MSM?
prestonbrooks
June 5, 2009 at 12:53 pm
LMFAO
Pray for our Soldiers. Those in charge are idiots.
You’re on the money Beverly……Our Troops are gonna have to depend on each other more than ever……
God Bless all of them
that is no exaggeration. YOu cannot believe what has been happening since January. It has not been good for warriors readiness or morale. Its like they want to cut the hearts out of the best men we have.
Thanks Beverly; I will.
I have a loved one; a guard at Gitmo. I realize he isn’t on the battle field, but things are very tense there after the suicide. Other than that he isn’t saying much. (he’s only 18).
(And you know all that brain washing sensitivity training they have to take).
My prediction is that these men are going to be placed in Western Afghanistan Provinces of
Nimruz Farah Herat to keep up the ongoing program of the destabilization of Iran. Recall that bomb explosion last month at the mosque in Zahedan. Had all the markings of a covert operation to split Sunni’s and Shia in Iran.
Fact is despite this jackass in the WH and his bullshit rhetoric in Egypt the Covert effort to destabilize Iran is going on full bore make NO mistake about that
I predict Israel will attack Iran after we have all the Afghanistan surge troops in place. I predict September based on the Jewish calender of holy days
Encirlcement policies against Nationstates like Iran was started back in the 1930’s with Germany this is simply a continuation of that policy.
Barry Soetero has zero say in this.
FIU,
“Barry Soetero has zero say in this”
You just made my day. Thanks
Mine to Cybil
Have a great weekend got to go
its ass kicking time
There is an easy way to kill Obama bin laden……it’s been done before and it worked quite well. It may not be very acceptable these days but war is hell….always has been.
Wait until winter…..and when its nice and cold up in those mountains start dropping bundles of small pox infected blankets on the outskirts of every suspected taliban village. Our forces being vaccinated will be just fine….but the poor taliban will be o so sick.
Wait a couple of weeks and send in the troops……a little fuel to burn the dead and problem solved. And it only cost a few thousand dollars….imagine that!!! Yes I know I’m heartless…all marines are.
No not heartless…GREAT IDEA!
Send them in Washington first !
You’re not heartless USMCTanks…..
you just know how to get the damned job done
and on the cheap.