От Venik
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Дата 21.10.2001 02:42:15
Рубрики Современность; ВВС;

Кстати, вот интересная статейка Таймс

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/20/international/asia/20CND-MILI.html

Т.е. действительно было две операции: одна вертолетами с Китти Хока за бумагами Омара. А вторая рэнджерами из Омана где-то еше но, как сказал ген. Ричард Маерс, не в Кандагаре. Пытались взять какой-то аэропорт.

Venik

Troops Sought Information; Airfield Also a Target

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 — The airborne commando raid into southern Afghanistan overnight Friday attacked a military airfield and a headquarters compound of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban's leader, in a daring strike to uncover information about the location and activities of Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders, the Pentagon said today.

The pre-dawn assault carried out in at least two locations about 60 miles apart by more than 100 Army Ranger paratroopers and other helicopter-borne special forces troops had two primary objectives, military officials said.

First, helicopters from the carrier Kitty Hawk off Pakistan whisked special operations forces to Mullah Omar's compound of buildings and hardened bunkers in Kandahar, the city that is the Taliban's spiritual center. The site had not been bombed, unlike many other leadership compounds, and elite commandos seized papers and other intelligence information that might reveal clues about Taliban operations and the whereabouts of their leaders.

At the same time about 60 miles to the southwest, Army Rangers loaded aboard armed transport planes in nearby Oman and parachuted into the second main target, a remote air field. Seizing the airport gave the military a good look at the runway and facilities for future operations, both military and humanitarian.

But it also enabled the military to secure the airfield in case the operation at Mullah Omar's house ran into trouble, and reinforcements or medical supplies had to be rushed in.

Moreover, the raids showed the Taliban and Al Qaeda that the United States military can land and carry out operations on the ground in their country. Indeed, at a Pentagon news conference today, officials showed grainy, greenish footage filmed by night-vision camera of paratroopers shuffling out the door, and then their chutes opening.

Finally, seizing the airfield was meant to be a confidence-building mission for the military and the American people. The Rangers left behind a calling card: 8-1/2 X 10 inch sheets that said "FREEDOM ENDURES," with a picture of a fireman raising an American flag at what appeared to be the World Trade Center.

At the Pentagon news conference, Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, proclaimed the mission, which marked a new and dangerous phase in America's war on terrorism, a success.

"We accomplished our objectives," said General Myers, fighter pilot in the Vietnam war who became chairman less than a month ago.

Even so, military commanders had held out the slim hope that they might be able to capture Mullah Omar or one of top lieutenants. "We did not expect to find significant Taliban leadership at these locations," said General Myers. "We, of course, were hoping we would, but we did not expect it and we did not find senior Taliban or al Qaeda leadership."

Military officials said special forces from more than one service were involved in the first major American commando raid since Somalia nearly a decade ago. Army Rangers, Green Berets, Navy SEALS, Air Force special operations forces and the elite Army Delta Force unit are believed to be on board the Kitty Hawk or operating elsewhere in the region.

Army Rangers have in the past operated in tandem with the Army's secret counterterrorist unit, Delta Force. For example the Rangers, the service's elite infantry, can create a flashy diversion so small Delta teams can carry out their mission. Or they can execute a more forceful entry than the Delta commandos could make themselves, given their small numbers.

General Myers and other military officials refused to discuss tactics, techniques and the kinds of weapons and weapons systems used in the raid, citing the unconventional nature of the conflict.

"This was done in very unique ways," said one Defense Department official. "We hope to use some of these tactics again."

But President Bush, speaking at an economic summit in Shanghai, hinted at the true aim of the mission. "We are destroying terrorist hideaways," he said. "We are slowly but surely encircling the terrorists so that we can bring them to justice."

Mr. Bush said he mourned the loss of two servicemen killed in Pakistan in a helicopter accident related to the mission.

"There will be moments of sacrifice," the president said late this morning, as he was about to begin a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. "We've seen two such examples today."

The president held a secure video-teleconference this morning with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was at his ranch in Taos, N.M., and with General Myers and Gen. Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, who were in Washington.

Congressional leaders who were briefed by administration officials on the operation expressed support for the mission. "The military campaign has proceeded just as it should," Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the majority leader, said through a spokesman. "It's not an assault on Islam or the Afghan people, but on terrorists and those who harbor them."

Airstrikes continued over Afghanistan today, as B-1 and B-52 bombers and carrier-based FA-18's and F-14's dropped laser-guided and satellite-guided bombs during daytime raids over Kabul, the capital, and Kandahar and Herat.

"It's the same level as it's been the past few days — robust," said Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Pentagon said the two American servicemen killed in a supporting search-and-rescue mission had not crossed into Afghanistan. Defense officials said today that at least one other person aboard the helicopter was injured in the accident.

They declined to say whether there were any American casualties in the commando raid, although all helicopters involved in the raid reported safely back to the carrier Kitty Hawk in the Arabian Sea.

A senior Defense Department official denied Taliban reports that the helicopter involved in the accident had been shot down. American military and Pakistani officials said the aircraft crashed while landing at the Dalbandin air base in Pakistan, about 60 miles from the Afghan border.

The crash was caused by "a brown-out," the Defense Department official said, and cited initial reports describing a huge cloud of dust kicked up by the wash of the rotor blades upon landing, which apparently disoriented the pilot or interfered with the equipment.

One officer said the helicopter that crashed was an Army Black Hawk, the main heavily armed troop carrier.

The Special Forces use a specially equipped version that provides better capabilities at night and can be refueled in the air.

The accident brings to three the number of American troops killed since the United States-led military campaign began two weeks ago with airstrikes aimed at Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, and at the government that is protecting him. A master sergeant was killed last week in a forklift accident while constructing an air strip in Qatar, on the Persian Gulf.

Pakistan agreed today to allow American forces to use a fourth base, Shamsi, located near the convergence of the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. The base was built for wealthy Saudi sheiks who indulged in world-class falconry there.

The United States is already using bases in Pasni, Jacobabad and Dalbandin for search-and-rescue missions and as staging areas for Special Forces.

The leader of the opposition Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, said today that he hoped for new assistance from the United States both along Afghanistan's northern borders and near Kabul.

Reuters quoted him as saying the resistance was "fighting well" in the north, where there has been an ebb-and-flow battle around the airport outside Mazar-i-Sharif, a strategic crossroads near Uzbekistan.

The United States has troops and aircraft stationed in Uzbekistan, and resistance forces have said that a few Special Forces troops are working with the rebel armies in the area.

"Now our commanders need to prepare and decide whether to take action in Kabul," Mr. Rabbani said. North of Kabul, the resistance faces dug-in Taliban troops whose front lines so far have been largely spared from American bombing.