Coalition troops eavesdrop across Afghanistan areas

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- To shepherds and playing children, they're usually invisible. Wearing ripped pieces of camouflage canvas, they could be mistaken for a mountain crag or a leafy bush. Often dropped in covertly by helicopter at night, nobody is supposed to know they're there.

All across eastern Afghanistan, special operations forces from several nations are secretly spying on villages and mountain passes deemed suspicious by the U.S.-led coalition against terror.

Their aim is to zero in on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts, who military officials say have dispersed into small groups, adopted guerrilla tactics, and learned to blend in with residents -- much like the covert operations teams themselves.

"Our people are very good at what they do. They're very good at hiding," said the U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Bryan Hilferty.

Equipped with handheld "laser target designators," U.S. special forces were active in the early stages of the Afghan war, sneaking near front lines to guide American airstrikes toward enemy positions.

The bombing campaign, backed by northern alliance troops, ousted the Taliban late last year.

Back then, the enemy was relatively easy to spot. These days, al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are proving elusive, and the allied coalition is turning increasingly to covert operations and intelligence to track them down.

The effort includes finding and analyzing documents, computer disks and arms caches left in caves and underground bunkers, monitoring satellite imagery and intercepting radio, telephone and e-mail communications.

Unmanned spy planes equipped with cameras also have been put to use by CIA operatives. One of them, the Predator drone, is fitted with Hellfire missiles.

Human intelligence

Even with all the high-tech help, human intelligence is the most reliable, Hilferty said. Tips sometimes come from Afghan authorities or villagers, who point out areas where suspected al-Qaida fighters or weapons caches might be.

Special operations teams are inserted into a target area -- mainly in eastern Afghanistan -- by air, vehicle or foot, and usually at night.

"You'll put people in a way that no one will know that they're there," Hilferty said. "You'll set up a position where you can provide eyes on a particular area."

And then they watch and wait.

One method involves donning something called a ghillie suit, made up of ripped pieces of camouflage canvas.

"You just layer it on and you just become like this big blob," Hilferty said. "You kinda' look like the blob, or the creature from the swamp, and when you lay down in that, if your canvas is the same color as the surroundings, you become almost invisible."