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SAS to take on Taleban 'decapitation' mission after leaving Iraq
December 13, 2008
SAS to take on Taleban 'decapitation' mission after leaving Iraq--London Times
Michael Evans, Defence Editor
Two SAS squadrons are to switch from Iraq to Afghanistan next year to mount one of the biggest covert operations for decades against the Taleban leadership and opium smugglers, who help to fund insurgents.
They plan to mount a combined operation with the Special Boat Service (SBS), the Royal Marines’ equivalent of the Army’s elite regiment, which is leading covert missions in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
The SAS served with distinction in Afghanistan during the early years of the campaign from 2001. It became involved in highly unusual formation assaults on the Taleban and al-Qaeda terrorists, and also in hunting for Osama bin Laden and drug traffickers.
A decision was taken about three years ago, however, to divide up the roles of special forces, giving the SBS lead responsibility for covert missions in Helmand province, while the SAS took charge in Iraq.
It has been operating from both Baghdad and Basra in the south of Iraq, where the rest of the British forces have been based for the past five years.
Next year, as most of the 4,100 troops are withdrawn, the SAS will also be pulled out, but its expertise and unrivalled experience of covert missions against foreign terrorists and insurgents will be exploited to the full in southern Afghanistan.
It will be joined by the other special forces support teams that have also played a vital role in Iraq in tracking down al-Qaeda and insurgent leaders: the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, which was formed out of 14 Intelligence Company, also known as the Det (Detachment), and the Special Forces Support Group, created from the former 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, which provides back-up for SAS and SBS operations.
The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, which has male and female members, is equipped with sophisticated high-tech surveillance kit. Its intelligence-gathering capability will be crucial in the battle with the Taleban.
Elements of the regiment are already serving in Afghanistan, but the transfer of so much surveillance and covert operations experience will provide military commanders with a hugely expanded and more versatile special forces capability.
Sources close to the special forces gave warning, however, that although invaluable lessons had been learnt and experience gained in Iraq, Afghanistan presented an even greater challenge, both in terms of terrain and of the enemy the forces would be facing.
In Baghdad operations, the SAS worked closely with its American counterparts, including Delta Force, modelled on the British regiment, and was involved in hundreds of house searches in the hunt for terrorists, following long-term intelligence-gathering missions.
Their achievements were praised by General David Petraeus while he was the top American commander in Iraq. He had nothing but the highest regard and admiration for the SAS. Up to eight members of the regiment are known to have died in Iraq and sources said that it had won more gallantry awards than any other unit.
General Petraeus revealed that British officers had been engaged in secret meetings with Sunni insurgent leaders, which would have been supported by the SAS, to try to persuade them to put down their arms and join the political process. The meetings ultimately bore fruit.
In Iraq, the sources said, the foreign fighters, who came in from Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, tended to work in small cells, operating under a loose command system. In Afghanistan, however, the Taleban were acknowledged to be a hardened enemy with a war-experienced core leadership operating in terrain that was difficult and challenging for the counter-terrorist units. “Decapitation” operations in Afghanistan, principally by special forces, including the SBS, have proved remarkably successful, particularly during the past 12 months, leading to the elimination of hundreds of Taleban and foreign fighters.
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