http://www.boston.com/news/daily/20/attacks_covert.htm

Covert missions under way in wake of Ranger airborne raid on Taliban leader's compound

By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 10/20/01

WASHINGTON -- U.S. secret warriors launched dark-of-night covert missions into Afghanistan in addition to assaults by airborne Army Rangers on a Taliban-controlled airfield and a residence of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, U.S. officials said Saturday.

Two U.S. soldiers died in a helicopter crash in neighboring Pakistan.

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Rangers "accomplished our objectives," although neither Omar nor other Taliban or al-Qaida leaders were present during the attack on a Taliban compound near the southern city of Kandahar.

The two soldiers, whose identities were withheld until relatives were notified, were the first acknowledged combat deaths of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, which began Oct. 7. Myers said heavy dust clouds created by the chopper's rotating blades during a landing probably caused the crash.

President Bush, in China for an Asian economic conference, did not comment directly on the raid. He said he was satisfied that the military was achieving its objective of destroying terrorist hide-outs.

"We are slowly but surely encircling the terrorists so that we can bring them to justice," Bush said in Shanghai, China. He said he grieved for the dead soldiers, who "died in a cause that is just and right."

Three other Americans were injured in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter, and two Rangers were injured while parachuting onto an airfield in southern Afghanistan at the outset of the raid, Myers said.

Officials would not disclose the role of the Black Hawk, although some believed it was preparing to swoop across the border into Afghanistan in the event any Rangers had to be rescued.

Myers would not discuss other U.S. ground operations under way inside Afghanistan. Another senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said covert ground operations meant to be kept secret even after they are over were under way Saturday. The official offered no details.

No reporters were present during the Ranger raid. Although the Pentagon at a Saturday news conference showed a few video clips taken by its own camera operators -- including one of Rangers parachuting onto the airfield -- it was not possible to tell how the operation was carried out.

Myers said some details will be kept secret to deny the ruling Taliban any foreshadowing of future ground attacks.

The Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency said four helicopters landed in Kohi Baba, 20 miles northwest of Kandahar, but found the camp deserted. "The American air operation in Afghanistan has made no gain, and the helicopter operation has failed," Bakhtar said.

U.S. bombing continued Saturday at approximately the same scale as Friday. Attacking were dozens of Navy strike aircraft, several Air Force bombers and a few Air Force fighter-bombers.

On Friday about 100 aircraft attacked 15 target areas, Myers said. As has been the Pentagon's practice, Myers would not comment on current air missions but offered some details about the previous day's. He said targets Friday included air defenses and ammunition and vehicle storage areas.

Air Force C-17s delivered more food rations to western Afghanistan, bringing to 575,000 the number of rations dropped from the air since the military campaign began. Also, an Azerbaijani official said his government has granted permission for C-17s to use his country's airspace for the airdrops and to deliver equipment related to the military campaign. Azerbaijan lies east of Turkey and north of Iran.

U.S. warplanes had struck other of Omar's residences during two weeks of bombing, but Myers said the one assaulted by a force of more than 100 Rangers had not been attacked before. He said U.S. officials had hoped he would be there but were not surprised to find him gone.

Myers would not say whether U.S. forces took anyone prisoner during the raid. Intelligence materials were collected and will be analyzed, he said.

The Taliban, which controls more than 90 percent of Afghanistan's territory, has been harboring Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind believed to have had a hand in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The U.S. military campaign is designed to crush the Taliban, including its mostly decrepit military forces, and the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Friday's Ranger raids were against two targets at separate locations, Myers said. He described Taliban resistance as light. A small weapons cache discovered in a building at the airfield was destroyed, he said. Some of the weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition, were displayed in a U.S. combat video, shot with a night-vision lens and shown at the Pentagon news conference.

Myers said an undetermined number of Taliban forces were killed or injured.

Omar's compound was near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, and the airfield was "a considerable distance" southwest of Kandahar, according to another senior defense official speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Rangers parachuted onto the airfield from an MC-130E Combat Talon, a special operations aircraft designed to fly nighttime troop delivery missions at low altitudes below enemy radar. It was not clear how the Rangers got to their second target, the compound closer to Kandahar. Myers said a variety of aircraft were used in the mission, but he would not be more specific.

Myers refused to say whether U.S. forces remained in control of the airfield, and he would not say whether those troops left Afghanistan.

"They are now refitting and relocating for potential future operations against terrorist targets and other areas known to harbor terrorists," he said.

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2001

Answers

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/20/attacks_intelligence.htm

US special forces raid seizes intelligence on Taliban

By Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, 10/20/01

WASHINGTON -- U.S. special operations forces in a night parachute raid seized intelligence from a complex in Afghanistan where Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar lived, hoping for clues to help hunt down top Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, U.S. officials said Saturday.

American troops penetrated the buildings of the large complex, which serves as one of the Taliban command and control compounds, searching for intelligence and knowing that senior leaders were not expected to be inside, officials said.

While other Taliban command posts were bombed during U.S. strikes on Afghanistan that began on Oct. 7, this one was untouched by the bombardment and viewed by the U.S. military as a potential stash of intelligence.

"You could simply take the targets out perhaps with bombs, but that would deny you the capability to get the intelligence," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

The United States has targeted the Taliban for harboring Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his network al Qaeda whom America blames for orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed almost 5,400 people.

In a surgical operation, special forces troops parachuted into southern Afghanistan near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar to hit two targets selected mainly for their intelligence value.

"I'll characterize the one target as one of the locations where Omar lives. And it's a fairly large complex. It's a command and control compound for the Taliban leadership," Myers told reporters at a Pentagon news briefing.

"We gathered up some intelligence, some items, and we're going to evaluate that," he said.

HUNT FOR CLUES

Another U.S. defense official, without commenting on what intelligence was actually seized in the raid, said the troops probably searched for items such as maps, documents, correspondence, ledgers, arms, computer disks and communications equipment.

"The type of information that could lead to some intelligence value," the official said. "All you are picking up is raw stuff, which has to go back and be assessed," he said on condition of anonymity.

Another U.S. official said the intelligence gathering was aimed at producing "any leads that would tell them about Taliban hide-outs, places where the senior leadership might go, plans, defenses and further insights into the leadership."

Photos, letters, and even medication which would indicate whether Omar or any top officials had physical health problems, would be helpful, the official said.

"We have two primary goals in Afghanistan: One is to eliminate the support to al Qaeda, primarily the Taliban, and the other is to eliminate al Qaeda," Myers said bluntly.

No top leaders of al Qaeda or the Taliban were killed or captured, defense officials said. But the mission was termed a success because the special forces extracted intelligence from the complex that will now be analyzed, they said.

"We did not expect to find significant Taliban leadership at these locations. We, of course, were hoping we would, but we did not expect it, and we did not find senior Taliban or al Qaeda leadership," Myers said.

Special forces troops probably left the complex with fewer walls standing, another defense official said. "They weren't there to wash the windows."

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2001

"They weren't there to wash the windows."

ROTFLMAO! No, they were there to clean clocks!

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2001