Fox reporting 250 Rangers attackign Taliban targets, supported by helos and gunships.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

Answers

BBC Friday, 19 October, 2001, 23:21 GMT 00:21 UK US troops 'clash with Taleban' Up to 200 elite US combat troops are fighting Taleban forces in southern Afghanistan, US media are quoting the Pentagon as saying.

CBS television reported "between 100 and 200 Army Rangers are in the midst of their first raid on a target belonging to the Taleban".

It would mark the first time American troops have fought Taleban forces on the ground since the US launched its offensive against Afghanistan nearly three weeks ago.

The network said it would not identify the exact target until all the planes had brought the Rangers out.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,36851,00.html

WASHINGTON — A handful of U.S. special forces are on the ground in Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said Friday, and action there could increase significantly in the coming days.

For the first time, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the U.S. military is coordinating with anti-Taliban forces on the ground, providing food, ammunition and money.

"There is good coordination from the air with the ground in some places, particularly in the north," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. "There is not that kind of coordination as of yet in the south."

A U.S. official said separately that U.S. special forces were supporting intelligence efforts to undermine the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military action could increase markedly in coming days.

A Pakistani official, also not wanting to be identified, said Pakistan was told by the Americans that special forces were dropped into Taliban territory on Thursday.

"Their basic purpose will not be to seize anything, but to conduct hit-and-run operations, pinpoint installations, smoke out terrorists," said the Pakistani military official.

The official said U.S. forces have also been in anti-Taliban northern alliance territory of Afghanistan for more than one week.

Rumsfeld would not confirm that special operations forces were in Afghanistan. "Any ground forces are in harm's way," he told reporters on the way to talk with B-2 bomber crews at the Missouri Air Force base.

The Pentagon chief didn't provide details of U.S. support for the northern alliance rebels and other anti-Taliban groups.

Gaining the support of anti-Taliban fighters across Afghanistan will help the U.S. meet its goal of rooting out Al Qaeda and toppling the Taliban, Rumsfeld said.

"It is going to be a lot easier, in my view, to try to persuade a number of them to oppose the Taliban and oppose Al Qaeda and to help defeat them, than it is, in fact, to defeat" the terrorists, he said.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three teams are on the ground — two teams working with indigenous forces in southern Afghanistan and a third "search and destroy" team south of Kabul. The teams usually consist of about 12 soldiers.

Defense officials said some special forces are on the USS Kitty Hawk, which is being used as a secure, floating base.

A Taliban official said his side wasn't afraid.

"Fifteen or 20 troops will be able to do nothing," embassy spokesman Sohail Shaheen said. "If they want to send in soldiers, they should send in 100,000. Then it can be a fight between our soldiers and theirs."

At the Pentagon, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference he would not comment on any aspect of ground operations.

"If or when they are on the ground, being there would make them the most vulnerable individuals engaged in this campaign," he said.

Reviewing Thursday's bombing, Stufflebeem said more than 90 strike aircraft went after 18 planned targets, including an array of airfields, air defense facilities, ammunition depots and military training sites. Three Air Force C-17 cargo planes dropped humanitarian rations inside Afghanistan, he said.

Rumsfeld hinted at the new phase Thursday, when he said ground forces would be needed to rid Afghanistan of Usama bin Laden, the terrorist group Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld said "there are things you can find from the air," including clusters of enemy troops and weaponry. "But you cannot really do sufficient damage" with air power alone, Rumsfeld said.

Warplanes "can't crawl around on the ground and find people," he told reporters in an apparent reference to U.S. special operations forces trained to conduct clandestine warfare.

President Bush refused to confirm the report of ground forces, but said, "We will use whatever means are necessary to achieve our objective."

Vice President Cheney said Thursday night that the airstrikes against terrorist camps and military targets since Oct. 7 have made possible this new phase of the war.

"The success of our air campaign has cleared the way for further action which the Taliban and terrorists can neither predict nor escape," he said in New York.

"It is important to realize that the military aspect will not always be so visible," Cheney said. "There will be times when we can watch a videotape of guided munitions finding their targets. Other successes will come from covert operations that are not seen or heard beyond a very small circle."

Signs that special forces were ready to go or might already be inside Afghanistan have been building all week. The USS Kitty Hawk was loaded with special forces last weekend. And an Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship began attacking in southern Afghanistan on Monday. The high-firepower AC-130s typically give close air cover to forces already on the ground or going in for small-unit operations.

Rumsfeld planned to fly to Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., on Friday to honor B-2 stealth bomber crews and support teams operating over Afghanistan. The $1.3 billion bombers have flown the longest sorties in history: 44-hour missions from Whiteman to Afghanistan and then to a recovery base in the Indian Ocean.

"We're grateful for their courage, their sacrifice, and I look forward to having a chance to thank some of them," Rumsfeld said.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

About 9:45 PM ET, CNN reported that the Rangers are out and the mission has been completed. There was no further info.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

Snip from NYTimes

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 — United States ground forces mounted a helicopter assault into southern Afghanistan tonight in a risky nighttime raid that opened a new phase in America's war on terrorism, military officials said. More than a hundred special forces, including Army Rangers, swooped down by helicopter on at least one main target in the area of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban government that has supported Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network. Officials suggested that the raid by Special Operations forces was not the only mission under way, and that covert operations against undisclosed targets were also taking place. Military officials said there were reports of American casualties, but they did not say how many. Officials said the operation took several hours, and was concluded by about 9:30 p.m. eastern time. They would not immediately disclose details of the fast-moving mission.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001