Military special ops rate new interest

WASHINGTON - They were crucial to the defeat of the Taliban government, calling in precision airstrikes while huddled in the hills with Afghan allies. And these shadowy warriors are playing an increasingly larger role in the overall war on terror, training foreign troops from the gorges of Georgia to the steamy jungles of the Philippines.

Now, military leaders are looking at these special operations forces - from the Army's Green Berets to the Navy's SEALs - with heightened interest, proposing to increase their numbers, provide new equipment and set up more training missions with rank-and-file troops.

"The special operations forces - Army, Navy and Air Force - really teamed up" in Afghanistan, said Col. Fred Wieners, head of an Air Force task force coming up with "lessons learned" from the American-led campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida forces. "It was a real turning point as far as regime change." Meanwhile the Marine Corps - the only service without a special operations component - for the first time will provide a Marine contingent to the Special Operations Command, the umbrella group for all services based in Tampa, Fla. The size of the unit is still being worked out, officials said.

Marine success

"The Marine Corps forces in Afghanistan would not have been as successful as they were without assistance from the special operations forces," said Lt. Col. Giles Kyser, a Marine planning officer in the Pentagon, pointing to the intelligence and reconnaissance aid of the special operators, some of it because of their close relations with Afghan warlords.

Analysts say the Afghanistan campaign accelerated an already increasing interest among the Pentagon brass in the skills of special operators.

During the Cold War, the focus was on large standing armies. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the special operations forces were increasingly called upon for small-scale skirmishes and training foreign troops, operating with a "small footprint" overseas, said Michael Vickers, a former Green Beret and CIA operative in Afghanistan.

"I think these were trends well underway before the war in Afghanistan," said Vickers. Besides their high-level military prowess, from familiarity with many types of weapons and hand-to-hand fighting skills, some of the special operations forces are versed in the culture and the languages of the region they operate in.

"There's high demand for them now. Special operations forces tend to be very resourceful and work in small groups," said Vickers.