One Hundred Victories (50 page)

Thailand,
185

Thomas, Tony,
208
,
210
,
212
,
242
–
249
,
252
–
253
,
256

Tillman, Pat
196

Time
,
89

Tolkien, J. R. R.,
55
,
193

Townsend, Steve,
94

Triple Action,
208
,
248

Tunnel, Harry,
40
–
41

Tyson, Ann Scott,
220

Ua, Cameron,
75
–
76

United Nations,
9
,
89

blacklist of,
86

and prisoner abuse,
123

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),
251

Uruzgan Province,
5
,
30
,
175
,
224

Taliban in,
3
–
4
,
7
,
28
,
159
,
162
–
164

US Agency for International Development (USAID),
26
–
27
,
28

and Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI),
84
–
85
,
194
,
239

US Army Special Forces Qualification Course,
137

US Central Command,
11
,
24
,
34
,
111
–
112
,
119

US Department of Agriculture,
28

US Special Operations Command,
13
,
29
,
129
,
208
,
210

US Special Operations Joint Task Force–Afghanistan,
243

US State Department,
28

Uzbek,
29

Vietnam,
37
,
93
,
129
,
151
,
157
,
161
,
185
,
196
,
222
,
238
–
239
,
263

Civilian Irregular Defense Group in,
13
,
252

Village Stability Coordination Centers (VSCCs),
31
–
32
,
33

Village Stability Operations/Afghan Local Police (VSO/ALP).
See
Afghan Local Police

Votel, Joseph,
245

Wardak Province,
15
,
29
,
178
,
203
,
208
,
211
,
248

and Afghan Local Police,
209
,
212

Taliban in,
210
,
214

Washington Post
,
199
,
220

West Point,
66

White, Scott,
59
–
60

Wikileaks,
116

Wilson, Bob,
66

and Kunar Province,
94
,
102

and Operation Sayaqa,
103
,
105
,
107
,
109
,
115
–
116

World Bank,
268

World Trade Center,
2

World War II,
3

Wright, Jeremy,
233

Yahya Khel District,
186
,
188
–
190

Yarborough, William P.,
73

Zabul Province,
2
,
30

Afghan Local Police in,
133
,
170

Taliban in,
28
,
36
,
159
,
164
–
165
,
168
,
171

Zarghun Shah District,
185

Zarqawi, Abu Musab al-,
1

Zeegers, Randy,
32

Zerikow Valley,
4

Zhari District,
41
,
44
,
57
,
60

and Afghan Local Police,
149
–
150

Linda Robinson
is a senior international policy analyst at RAND. She has been an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center. Her book about the U.S. Army Special Forces,
Masters of Chaos
, was a
New York Times
bestseller;
Tell Me How This Ends
, which is about the Iraq War, was a
Foreign Affairs
bestseller and a
New York Times
notable book. She received the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Reporting on National Defense in 2005. She has conducted field research on special operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Latin America and elsewhere over the past twelve years.

Copyright © 2013 by Linda Robinson

Published in the United States by PublicAffairs™,
a Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, 15
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Book Design by Janet Tingey

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Robinson, Linda, 1962–

One hundred victories : special ops and the future of American warfare /
Linda Robinson.—First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61039-150-4 (ebook)

1. Afghan War, 2001—Campaigns. 2. Afghan War, 2001—Commando operations—United States. 3. Special operations (Military science)—United States. 4. Counterinsurgency—Afghanistan—History—21st century. 5. United States—Armed Forces—Afghanistan—History. 6. Taliban. 7. Afghanistan—Politics and government—2001. 8. Afghanistan—History, Military—21st century. I. Title.

DS371.412.R62 2013

958.104’78—dc23

2013016787

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

{1}
This number is cited in Stanley McChrystal,
My Share of the Task: A Memoir
(New York: Portfolio, 2013), 265.

{2}
Ahmed Rashid, “Afghanistan: Taliban’s Second Coming,” BBC News, June 2, 2006.

{3}
Mahaney’s words and the account of Operations Nish and Adalat are drawn from an email exchange with the author on March 13, 2013; an author interview with him on March 8, 2013; and a written account of Special Operations Task Force 71’s service achievement in Operation Enduring Freedom that was submitted for a unit citation.

{4}
McChrystal,
My Share of the Task
, 265.

{5}
The statistics are cited in the unit citation narrative cited above; the account of the enemy situation and the battle is drawn from an author’s interview and email exchanges with Chris Castelli, March 13, 2013. According to Castelli, the three principal Taliban leaders operating in this area were Mullah Shakur, Haji Lala, and Mullah Tahir.

{6}
Author interviews with Castelli and Mahaney.

{7}
  “Taliban Launch Rare Frontal Assault,” Associated Press, August 8, 2007.

{8}
Author interviews; unit citation narrative.

{9}
Author interview with Mahaney; Patrick J. Mahaney Jr., “Observations for Practitioners of Complex Operations,” in Christopher M. Schnaubelt, ed.,
Complex Operations: NATO at War and on the Margins of War
, NDC Forum Paper 14, NATO Defense College, Research Division, July 2010.