Andy McNab - The Hunt: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Catch a Taliban Warlord

CONTENTS

Thousands of operations were conducted by UKSF (UK Special Forces) in the Afghanistan battlespace during the thirteen years British servicemen and women were engaged in combat there.

Many of these operations are still secret, known only by those who fought in, planned, or approved them and none have equalled the fight that took place in southern Helmand Province in May 2007, striking at the Talibans most ruthless yet skilled wartime leader, Mullah Dadullah. And so thats where I wanted to start this new series, recreating the stories of real-life Special Forces missions.

UKSF were represented in Afghanistan at that time by the SBS (Special Boat Service), the Royal Navys equivalent force to the Special Air Service. (During that campaign, the SAS were deployed to Iraq.) After leaving the SAS, I had the privilege of visiting UK and US Forces in Afghanistan on several occasions and was on the ground with them during operations.

All Special Forces missions are difficult and dangerous, and thats why the job is given to them in the first place. For those not as familiar with the SBS as they are with the SAS, its easy to assume that the actions they undertook in Afghanistan were not as challenging, or as extreme, as those going on in Iraq at the time, but this is far from the case. As youll read here, what the operators of C Squadron achieved was extraordinary, by any measure, and they have my total respect.

The ultimate success of Operation Tetris meant the death of a truly brutal man. As youll discover, he thought nothing of throwing away peoples lives, including those of his own countrymen and women. His sadistic pleasure in the torture and execution of those unlucky enough to fall into his hands would be enough to condemn him, but he planned to escalate the war against Britain, America and her allies not only across Afghanistan but also far beyond its borders. He needed to be stopped, before he could target people in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

The Hunt might focus on the SBS operators involved, but the planning, preparation and support drew in hundreds of specialists from many branches of the UK and US armed forces, and perhaps because of that the news of Operation Tetris spread quickly through the SF community.

The names of those involved have been changed, and of course details that would compromise other operations conducted by UKSF have been omitted. But the facts remain true to the extraordinary action undertaken at the very limit of the capability of Britains Special Forces.

In the wake of Operation Tetris, the Americans wanted to award decorations to the SBS for their daring and determination under enemy fire. But in keeping with their practice of never acknowledging Special Forces operations of any sort, the British government refused them permission to give the SBS any honour that might have confirmed they had taken part in an attack on Mullah Dadullah.

This account is testament to their bravery.

Andy McNab CBE DCM MM

The White Mountains, October 2001

What Jay would remember about his first time in Afghanistan was the cold. It wasnt the kind of chill that simply caused his muscles to shiver. It seemed to get into his teeth, and bones, and never gave him a moments real rest. Jay had experienced the misery of nature as a shivering young recruit at Lympstone, the training depot of the Royal Marines, but the cold of the Afghan mountains was a constant, perilous sensation. With scorching heat in summer, and savage snows in winter, it was no wonder that this country was known as one of the most hostile places on earth. For thousands of years, great armies had come here, from Alexander the Great to the Soviet Union, and most had left with their tails between their legs, if theyd been allowed to leave at all. Afghanistan was a country where war was the norm, and survival was a daily battle. Even when the enemy was absent, the cold remained. Make the wrong decision here disrespect the land and the mountains would kill you as surely as any Taliban fighter.

Jay knew that many of his enemies had been fighting for almost as long as hed been alive: first contesting the Soviet occupation of the country, and then battling the Northern Alliance to put the Taliban in power. Jays life didnt have that kind of bloody background, but he firmly believed that he had the best military training in the world, and he had the best soldiers by his side. He held the rank of sergeant, but Jay was part of a unit where everyone was expected to think for themselves, show initiative, and be above ordinary in all aspects of soldiering, no matter the rank. Jay had proven himself once by becoming a Royal Marines Commando, and a second time by passing Special Forces Selection to join the elite Special Boat Service, but now, for the first time, he would be up against a real enemy, and the price of failure was not to be returned home or to his unit, but death: for Jay, or worse, for his comrades.

Many of his squadron had served in the Special Forces for several years, and they had been waiting patiently for a war like this. When he passed Selection, Jay couldnt have predicted that Al-Qaeda would attack America and destroy the Twin Towers. The footage of the attack had made him bitterly angry, and to be a part of the response against those responsible filled him with pride. Very few soldiers were part of the effort to take out the terrorists and the people who supported them, but Jay was one of them. Jays civilian friends could not understand that he was grateful to be sent to war, but his team mates all understood. They had volunteered again and again to get into this position, and this was what they wanted more than anything else: a mission that mattered.

Jay took another breath of the cold, thin air and looked around him. A range of harsh, jagged peaks stretched away into the distance. Beneath them was a long, flat plain broken by the lines of high compound walls. Jay was too far away to see the details, but he knew that these compound walls were made of thick layers of mudbrick, a testament to the perpetual violence in the region.

The frost-dusted slope that Jay stood on was part of a range of mountains known as Spn Ghar, which meant the White Mountains, for obvious, snowy reasons. They were located in Afghanistans east, and the border to Pakistan ran down the middle of the range, but the idea of a national boundary meant little here, and tribe and sect were far more important to the locals. The high mountain passes had long been both a route for smugglers and a refuge for fighters, and it was in places like this that men like Jay would have to root out those who supported the attacks of 9/11, and trap them if they tried to flee south into Pakistan. Easier said than done when the mountainsides were steep and often frozen, and the air was thinner and lacked the oxygen that Jay was used to. Part of Special Forces Selection took place on the hills for a reason, but the mountains of Wales did not compare to the peaks of Spn Ghar, the highest of which was over five times that of Pen Y Fan, the famous mountain where British forces are sent to test their mettle.

Jay turned and looked behind him, seeing some of his comrades follow up the slope. Though not born to this region, the SBS men were operators through and through, and they had adapted to this harsh terrain with no more than a few wry grumbles. The truth was that they all welcomed the opportunity to test themselves, and relished the fact that they were on the hunt.