Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan

Task Force Sword

TF Sword/ TF 11 was the JSOC’s so-called “hunter-killer” force, with the mission of capturing or killing senior leadership or “high-value targets” (HVTs) in both al Qaeda and Taliban. Sword was structured around a two-squadron component of Special Mission Unit (SMU) operators from the Combat Applications Group (CAG) and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), supported by Ranger security teams, and the intelligence specialists of Grey Fox, NSA and the CIA.

CAG – popularly known as “Delta” – are modeled on the British 22nd Special Air Service Regt (22SAS), and are the US Army’s primary direct action, hostage rescue and special reconnaissance unit. The three Squadrons (A, B and C) are each divided into three Troops – two dedicated to DA and one Recon Troop. In OEF they were often known obliquely as “Task Force Green”; the Rangers who worked in support of Sword were TF Red, DEVGRU were termed TF Blue, Grey Fox TF Orange, and the 160th SOAR were TF Brown.

DEVGRU are the former SEAL Team 6, which grew from a maritime counterterrorist unit into a sort of naval equivalent of CAG. They are structured in a similar manner to the Army unit, with specialist DA and recon elements, and the two units are considered interchangeable by JSOC.

Grey Fox are the most secretive of the JSOC units; they are trained and equipped to gather actionable intelligence for the SMUs through electronic (ELINT) and signals (SIGINT) methods, along with the more traditional human intelligence (HUMINT). They were also experienced at “man-hunting”, having helped target and capture HVTs in the Balkans, Somalia and Colombia.

Coalition SOF were sometimes attached to Sword to support specific operations; UK Special Forces (UKSF), particularly the Special Boat Service (SBS), were generally integrated and attached for the longer term. One US special operations source explained to the author that in the early months only US and UK SF played any major roles in TF 11 operations; other Coalition trops were used predominantly in SR and some SSE missions. Another added: “There was a lot of ‘hey, there’s a war, and everyone wants to come’ going on back then – only we were running the show, and needed to be the ones that nailed the big bad guys for the press.”