Boots on the Ground: The Fight to Liberate Afghanistan from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, 2001-2002 - Hardcover

Camp, Dick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760341117 ISBN 13: 9780760341117

Publisher: Zenith Press, 2012

Synopsis

Boots on the Ground is a narrative account of the American war to free Afghanistan from al Qaeda and the Taliban. Author Dick Camp uses extensive firsthand accounts that bring the text alive. Camp’s exciting narrative covers the origins of American combat involvement in the country as well as the post-9/11 campaigns that initially brought victory over al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. In an incisive epilogue, he describes how we let victory in Afghanistan slip away to fight a war in Iraq.

 

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Immediately following 9/11, the United States needed to strike back . . . but against whom? In the eyes of the intelligence community, the aerial attack on the World Trade Center and Washington, D.C., bore all the signs of an al-Qaeda operation. This was soon verified by al-Qaeda itself, as Osama bin Laden claimed credit. America quickly targeted al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that was providing them sanctuary. Central Command, responsible for the Middle East, including Afghanistan, outlined three options: strike back with cruise missiles, strike back with cruise missiles and manned bombers, or complement aerial attacks with American ground forces: “boots on the ground.” President George W. Bush wanted direct action, so American ground forces, supported by American airpower and cruise missiles, became the order of the day. Initially, the boots were worn by CIA covert operatives and U.S. Army Special Forces teams, the famed Green Berets. Bush authorized the CIA an additional $1 billion to drive al-Qaeda and the Taliban from power. On 17 September 2001, Bush authorized the CIA to engage al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations anywhere in the world and assassinate individuals designated as terrorists. It was the broadest and most lethal authority in the agency’s history. The CIA deployed teams across Afghanistan to work with the Northern Alliance and U.S. Army Special Forces. The results were immediate and positive. The Northern Alliance had the Taliban and al-Qaeda on the run with a remarkable combination of “horse soldiers” and high-tech U.S. airpower called in by American special operations forces. Late in November, U.S. Marine Corps Task Force 58 seized an airstrip southwest of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in the longest amphibious raid in history, 450 miles from the sea. In early December, Kandahar fell to forces loyal to Hamid Karzai, who would later become president of Afghanistan. It was the last remaining Taliban stronghold in the country. Al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership fled. Acclaimed military historian Dick Camp details this remarkable campaign for Afghanistan. He also provides a comprehensive history of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Red Army’s unsuccessful occupation of the country, which led to the rise of the Afghani mujahideen and anti-Soviet foreign fighters under al-Qaeda, as well as the subsequent rise of the Taliban.

From the Back Cover

From the book:The SEAL platoon, reinforced with two combat controllers, was to be inserted by two MC-130s on one of the darkest nights of the year. “Our plan called for four Humvees to be put down about ten miles from the target site on the dry lake bed,” one of the SEALs recalled. “We had to fly in, land, make our way to the target, and go to ground, and we had to do this in about eleven hours of darkness.” The operation was risky because if the SEALs were discovered it might compromise the entire operation. After several delays—“We’d grown accustomed to saddling up and standing down,” he said—the platoon boarded the aircraft for the three hour flight to the objective. After crossing into Afghan air space, the aircraft flew low level. “At that height, the MC-130s fly themselves with their terrain-following radar.” The pilots put the big aircraft right on the money. “They made a straight pass in and dropped us right on the insertion point.” Within minutes the SEALs unchained the vehicles, exited the aircraft, and had taken up security positions. In the meantime, the aircraft pivoted, rolled down the runway, and quickly gained enough speed to take off. The roar of their engines gradually subsided as the aircraft disappeared into the night sky.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0760341117
• ISBN 13: 9780760341117
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320