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SEALs in Afghanistan
By James W. Crawley
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 17, 2002

Slowly, methodically, the Navy SEALs inched into the 

caves of Zhawar Kili, Afghanistan, their flashlight 

beams piercing the darkness, searching for morsels 

of intelligence about the al-Qaeda terrorist network. 

They had hoped the mission, which began two weeks ago, 

would find clues to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. 

But with each new cave, the San Diego-based commandos 

found something awesomely different. An estimated 

million pounds of explosives and ammunition, tanks, 

anti-aircraft guns and armored personnel carriers 

were stockpiled inside the caves, the largest al-Qaeda 

terrorist camp discovered so far. They also found reams 

of intelligence information, drugs, money, diesel-fuel 

tanks and American-made radios. Nearby they discovered 

several terrorist classrooms and safe houses, with money 

and passports abandoned inside. And they discovered the 

hills and valleys were alive with bad guys -- small bands 

of suspected al-Qaeda fighters still armed with guns and 

the ubiquitous rocket-propelled grenade launchers. "This 

makes Tora Bora look like little fodder caves," said the 

Navy SEAL who commanded the operation, referring to the 

nearby stronghold blasted last month. What was planned 

as a 12-hour "in-and-out" intelligence mission turned into 

a nine-day marathon of searching, mapping and, finally, 

bombing the warren of caves, bunkers and buildings in the 

narrow valley 30 miles southwest of Khost, near the Pakistan 

border, the lieutenant commander said during an interview 

yesterday after he had left the area. He was not allowed 

to identify himself or his unit. The Zhawar Kili operation 

was far more extensive and riskier than recent Pentagon 

briefings have portrayed, according to those familiar 

with the mission. he small group of Navy commandos led the 

mission, but they were joined by a guarding force of 50 

Marines, several Air Force commandos and law-enforcement 

officials looking for evidence. They spent days directing 

Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force bombers to drop hundreds 

of satellite-guided bombs in an effort to seal the caves 

and destroy the last remnants of the terrorist camp. 

Several suspected al-Qaeda fighters were captured. A few 

days into the mission, two armed dune buggies, built in El 

Cajon, were airlifted to aid the search. No troops were 

injured in the operation. And when their food and water 

ran low, the troops took over a small village nearby, 

killing and roasting some goats and a cow for food. By the 

time it was over last weekend, aircraft, many launched from 

the San Diego-based carrier John C. Stennis, had dropped 

more than 400,000 pounds of bombs on the complex. The 

commandos were awestruck by the complexity and size of the 

caves, their leader said. About 40 of the more than 70 tunnels, 

dug by heavy equipment, had steel I-beams and brick 

reinforcements. They plunged several hundred yards into the 

sides of the narrow, steep valley. "They would have survived 

a thermonuclear bomb," the commander speculated. Inside, the 

commandos searched the labyrinth of rooms, tunnels and cells 

armed only with flashlights and their M-4 automatic carbines.  

"It was very eerie. It was obvious there were people living 

there," he said. Once, switching off his flash-light, the 

veteran commando was engulfed in a vertigo-inducing void. 

"The darkness was absolute," he said. "It's so black." But 

it was what the commandos' flashlights illuminated that was 

the most mind-boggling: caverns stacked high with explosives, 

mines, mortars, shells, small-arms ammo and diesel-fuel drums. 

When the SEALs blew up the caches with demolition charges, 

chain-reaction explosions rocked the valley for several days.

But the troops didn't have enough explosives to demolish the 

armored vehicles, artillery guns and vehicles found inside 

the tunnels, so they moved them outside and called in airstrikes. 

"We're letting gravity and precision (munitions) do the work," 

said Rear Adm. James Zortman, who commands the Stennis battle 

group. For eight days, the carrier's pilots circled overhead, 

blasting everything from suspected al-Qaeda fighters to weapons 

to cave entrances. "Whatever they want, they get," said Lt. Matt 

Norris, an F/A-18 Hornet pilot aboard the Stennis who bombed 

targets at Zhawar Kili. Sometimes, the big bombs were dropped 

"danger close", within 500 yards of the commandos and Marines.  

Each time, the men dropped to their knees, head to the target, 

mouth open, eyes closed. Then they waited. "It's not a boom,

it's a loud crack," the commando team's leader said. Then a 

"staggering" shock wave swept over them, followed by a blast of 

dust. The commander credited the group's Air Force forward air 

controllers with making the bombing campaign a success. "They 

worked serious magic," he said. The cave and camp area was so 

large that two desert patrol vehicles; souped-up, heavily armed 

dune buggies built for the Persian Gulf War by Chenowth Racing 

Products in El Cajon were flown in to help the SEALs. The 

vehicles had been in storage in Virginia for six years, their 

tires rotted, the metal fatigued and the communications gear 

outdated. Last month,several were pulled from the warehouse 

and flown to El Cajon to be refitted by Chenowth, While everyone 

was out Christmas shopping, those Chenowth guys were working on 

them, Outside the caves, the SEALs and Marines fended off two 

enemies: al-Qaeda fighters and hunger. The whole area turned out 

to be dirty, referring not to the soil but enemy activity. The 

steep terrain, marked by rocky ridges, scrubbrush and thready 

goat trails, was prime ground for ambushes, the Zhawar Kili 

operation's commander said. Several times, armed men were 

spotted. The SEALs' answer was to call in airstrikes. Solving 

the commandos' other enemy took some improvisation. Because the 

mission had been scheduled to last a day, the troops packed 

lightly, bringing lots of ammo but only enough food and water 

for a day or two. Locating a nearby village, the men shooed away 

residents and set up a firebase. The town well supplied water. 

Goats, a cow and some chickens were rounded up. Pretty soon, 

meat was being roasted. The commander called the mission 

flawless despite not finding bin Laden. However, Defense 

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday he believes the master

terrorist remains in the country. But one thing known by troops 

on the ground and pilots in the air: Afghanistan remains a 

dangerous place. "There's still a war going on down there," a 

pilot said. "Those guys are in extreme danger down there."