Elite US Rangers storm mullah's mountain fort

Elite US Rangers storm mullah's mountain fort

The stronghold of Baba Sahib was never conquered by Russian forces. It was a byword for invincibility to Afghans - but it fell in a single attack

War in Afghanistan: Observer special
War on Terrorism: Observer special

Paul Harris and Jason Burke, Peshawar
Sunday October 21, 2001
The Observer

The first sign that something had changed came on Friday. Unlike the previous week, there was no pause in the American bombing for the Muslim day of prayer. US attack aircraft prowled the skies above Kandahar, given the green light to go after random targets and troop formations.
But among the bombs came leaflets, fluttering down to the battered and terrified people of the Taliban stronghold. They warned them to avoid potential military targets and stay in their homes. Then came four slow-moving EC-130CE planes, sweeping high over the city and broadcasting radio messages in Pashtu.

The tone was mocking and brutal as the signals cut into local frequencies with jamming equipment. The words were aimed at the Taliban fighters below, huddled over radio sets. 'You are condemned. Did you know that? The instant the terrorists you support took over our planes, you sentenced yourself to death,' they said. The war, barely two weeks old, was entering a bloody and dangerous new phase.

The attack came just after midnight yesterday: enough time for the day of prayer to have ended, but giving enough hours of darkness for the assault to be carried out during night-time. This time the aircraft would not be dropping bombs. They would be dropping highly trained, heavily armed men.

They had taken off a few hours earlier - reportedly from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk - heading north over the Indian Ocean and through Pakistani airspace. Joining them was an escort of AC-130s, the feared gunships which had been laying waste to Taliban positions around Kandahar since the start of the week. Helicopters, based at the newly opened Pakistani airstrip of Dalbandin, 125 miles from Kandahar, also flew in to join the mission.

As the planes and choppers flew in low over hills and mountains surrounding the city, at least 100 elite US Rangers slipped out and parachuted down out of the night sky. They descended silently, each man wearing night-vision goggles that would reveal the landscape below bathed in an eerie green light. His enemies - perhaps still not knowing what was happening - would have scanned the darkness in vain, looking for an attacker they could not see.

The target was Baba Sahib, a village of mud huts on a low hilltop about five miles from the city centre. It is the base of a small Taliban garrison set up to guard a home owned by the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Omar. The houses have mud walls and straw roofs. The roads are potholed and difficult to pass. The only solid building of brick and concrete is Omar's house. But the village holds a special place in the psyche of the Afghans. It and the surrounding mountains were a stronghold of the anti-Russian forces during the Eighties.

First reports seem to indicate the attack was a surprise. For the Rangers, it was time to put years of dedicated practice into action. This was the moment they had been trained for.

If, as analysts believe, the raid was a 'dry-run' for future operations, this would have been vital to demonstrate that US forces can take and secure territory inside Afghanistan. As the Rangers landed they split up into their individual weapons teams and moved quickly to secure the area.

A typical company of Rangers is equipped with two 60mm mortars and three-man teams deploying an 84mm Carl Gustav anti-armour weapon. Each company is also complemented by a weapons platoon that includes a sniper section, consisting of two-man teams. A third team section employs a .50 calibre Barrett rifle capable of penetrating light armour.

If Taliban forces had any doubts as to what was happening, they would have been dispelled by the support fire of the AC-130s, backed up by the Nightstalker attack helicopters that accompany Rangers on all their missions. When the guns from the air opened up, they would have known a battle was on its way.

The AC-130s circled low overhead, always flying anti-clockwise so as to bring the full brunt of their weaponry down upon Taliban forces below. The gunships can put a round in every metre of an area the size of eight football pitches in a single pass. Their psychological effect is almost as crippling as their firepower.

But for the Rangers on the ground the AC-130s meant security. Reports from Kandahar spoke of huge amounts of gunfire and explosions from the region of the village. Flashes and bangs lit up the night sky and some residents reported seeing American ground troops taking up positions. Reports were still sketchy last night, but direct man-to-man fighting had broken out for the first time between the Taliban and US troops.

The Taliban yesterday said they had repulsed the attack and suffered no losses. But unofficial sources in Pakistan said the Taliban 'took a mauling', leaving more than 20 fighters dead.

The Rangers stayed on the ground for two to three hours. Then, with dawn still several hours away, the withdrawal began. Under the covering fire of the gunships, troop-carrying helicopters raced into the airstrip. The Rangers ran to the rescue craft before getting the all-clear to depart. Then - the mission complete - the helicopters lifted off, turning for the Pakistani border and safety.

As the smoke from the raid drifted away, the Rangers left behind them more fresh bullet-holes and shell craters around Kandahar, adding to the rubble already accumulated over two decades of war. It is unlikely it will be the last time the Rangers will be seen there.

Though each helicopter that flew to Afghanistan returned unharmed, there were American casualties - the first in the war, but probably not the last. Two US servicemen died when their helicopter crashed while on standby for any rescue operation. After being told about their deaths in a video link from the Pentagon to Shanghai, President George Bush hailed the dead men as heroes.

As word of the raid spread through Kandahar it became clear there was to be no respite for the tattered city. US aircraft returned to the city yesterday and the bombing resumed once again.