A month after the September 11 attacks, U.S. Special Forces A-teams were in-country working with anti-Taliban forces. A-teams were assigned to commanders of opposition forces in northern Afghanistan to call in airstrikes. They also helped synchronize the movements of various Northern Alliance forces. Team 555 had been chosen to be the first Special Forces A-team infiltrated into Afghanistan during the war, the vanguard of a small, nearly invisible U.S. ground presence that helped topple the Taliban with stunning speed and tested a new template for warfare. Nearly every team also included one or two CIA operatives and an Air Force Special Operations combat controller, expert at guiding high-flying aircraft to targets.
October 21 through November 12, from hideouts, Team 555 targeted Taliban troops and convoys traveling from Kabul to Bagram for U.S. warplanes. Some of the mountain outposts were so remote, they had to be reached by horseback. For nearly a week, 555 was one of only two Special Forces teams inside Afghanistan. They had the entire range of Air Force and Navy planes at their call; F-18, F-14 and F-15 fighters, B-52 and B-1 bombers, AC-130 gunships. Afghanistan was divided into 30 "kill boxes," in which pilots could loiter, waiting to be given targets.
On November 13, the Northern Alliance along with Team 555 chased the Taliban out of Kabul. The team made its way to the U.S. Embassy, which had been closed since 1989. It fell to 555 to check the building for booby traps. They found the embassy frozen in time, the ambassador's desk still brimming with papers. The members of Team 555 moved into another safe house and befriended a couple of young shoeshine boys, whom the team outfitted in clothes and soccer equipment. They also opened the Kabul airfield, which immediately became the hub of international relief efforts. |
