The nitty-gritty job of rooting out terrorists

Another primary mission of US special forces is likely to be "unconventional warfare" - using skilled linguists and cultural experts such as the Green Berets to train, equip, organize, and support anti-Taliban resistance troops. Such forces would also link allied air power and rebel troops, experts say. "It's pretty difficult for someone speaking Farsi or broken English to get an aircraft on target," says Col. Jack Moroney, a retired Army Special Operations commander.

Already, members of the US, British, and Russian special forces are offering a variety of assistance to the anti-Taliban fighters, according to press reports and US military experts. Russia's elite Spetnaz units have the experience to aid the resistance, says Bard O'Neill, an expert on insurgency at the National War College.

"The Russians want to control the show in terms of who is training and equipping," he says. The Spetnaz were highly successful in fighting the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s, he says. "This mythology emerges that these people are fabled guerrilla fighters - in fact they were modest at best. The Russians could deal with them, but they didn't have enough [special forces]."

Yet it is vital to set long-term, strategic goals for guerrilla warfare, especially given the complex ethnic and religious mix of Afghan tribes. Months or years are needed to build trust, an intelligence network, a communications system, and an underground resistance behind enemy lines.

"Thirty days is not enough to get an unconventional effort going," says Moroney. "We should be inside their heads, and we are not inside their heads."

Indeed, some veterans say, the US-led airstrikes, while politically important for boosting US morale and focusing the international coalition, were launched prematurely. "I think the president had to do something before we got hit again, even though the special operations were not in place," says a former US Army Special Operations officer in Virginia. "I don't think the score could go 2-0."

Crucial to swaying Afghan hearts and minds is another tool of US special forces: "psychological operations," or PSYOP. These aim both to deceive and demoralize the enemy and to win support from civilians. "PSYOP is equally or more important than dropping bombs," says ret. Col. Charles Borchini, who commanded the Army 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg, N.C. "All the tools for persuasion, the bombs, the statements, have to get the right message to the right people."

Already, the US military is dropping leaflets and broadcasting Voice of America and other reports from airborne EC-130 units. To be effective, messages aimed at civilians should include antiterrorist and anti-Taliban messages from Muslim leaders and Afghan refugees, as well as from defected Taliban troops, Colonel Borchini says.

They also typically tell civilians where to get food and warn them to stay away from facilities that are likely to be attacked. Messages aimed at Taliban troops would likely urge them to defect.

Page: 1 | 2