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The long running conflict in Afghanistan has seen continous
involvement of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and units.
Elements of the 5th Special Forces Group infiltrated Afghanistan
in the fall of 2001 to link up with Afghan opposition forces
shortly after the 9/11 attack by terrorists.
Special Forces detachments infiltrated northern and southern
Afghanistan and linked up with the Northern Alliance (in
northern Afghanstan) and opposition forces in southern
Afghanistan to assist in the fight against the Taliban regime.
The initial operation name was Operation Stronghold Freedom.
The Joint Special Operations Task Force - North (JSOTF-N) was
based at K2 airbase in southern Uzbekistan. JSOTF-N was
comprised of U.S. Army Special Forces (5th SFGA), USAF special
operations air assets, the 49th Public Affairs Detachment (Abn),
psychological operations assets, and the 1st Battalion 87th
Infantry Regiment (Fort Drum, NY).
On November 13, 2001 elements of the Northern Alliance
entered the city of Kabul - chasing out Taliban forces. Soon
after, the remaining major cities and provincial capitals fell
to a combination of Coalition and Afghan opposition forces.
The Afghan conflict would be one of America's longest wars -
with all seven Special Forces groups participating in multiple
deployments over two decades.
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