After CLOSE TO TWO weeks since we had arrived in Jacobabad, we had a completed plan for the insertion. A date was set and pre-mission tensions began to mount. Then that date was cancelled and another launch date was set, and then that date was cancelled as well. The emotional roller coaster of the on again, off again launch date took a toll, at least on me, and I suspected it did on the others as well.
When another date was proposed, Greg was called up to Islamabad for a meeting to discuss the plan. This hadn’t happened before and we took it as a sign that this time might be it.
When Greg returned he called us together.
“It’s a go. We leave in three days when the nighttime illumination will be at its lowest.”
I was elated by the news, but because I was not a paramilitary officer, I still had suspicions that, if push came to shove I might be cut from the team when it deployed. I was constantly trying to read the tea leaves about my status. Things seemed to be good, however, and I viewed my appointment as Karzai’s go-to guy as a positive sign that Greg had confidence in me. There was nothing I could think of that suggested otherwise, with one possible exception.
There had been a couple of interesting things I had noticed about Greg during the time we had spent together in Jacobabad. One was that he rarely seemed to eat, and when he did, he usually was on his feet and in motion while doing so. That eating habit certainly helped explain why he didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body. The other thing I had observed was that he did not have any socks; at least I never saw him with any on. I thought maybe when he had packed he had forgotten them so I offered him a couple extra pairs of mine, but he said “No,” staunchly refusing to take them. I thought that was odd. The socks were clean; in fact, they were brand new and I had to wonder, why wouldn’t he take my socks? But Greg was a hard guy to read. He never gave much away about what he was thinking, so I told the “sock story” to Jimmy to get his opinion.
“Don’t take it personal. Greg doesn’t like to take nothing from nobody. He would rather freeze his toes off. I’m sure he’ll get some socks for himself soon enough—or maybe he won’t. Either way, don’t worry about him. He can take care of himself.”
Since Jimmy knew him well, I accepted his explanation. But I still wanted to confirm I was good to go for the mission and decided to cut to the chase. I asked Greg if I was going in with the rest of the team.
“You bet you’re going. Better start packing your shit,” he said.
That was music to my ears. I had been working to get to Afghanistan since September 11th. I had missed my chance with Gary Schroen’s team, and a couple of other opportunities as well, but finally it looked like I was almost there.
The next morning I walked over to the Air Force mess tent for a hot breakfast. The guys who worked there didn’t know we were CIA and assumed we were aircraft maintenance contractors. I got a cup of coffee and helped myself to some bacon and eggs. I saw there was a news program playing on the big screen TV located in the middle of the cavernous tent, and I sat down at a nearby table to watch while I ate. A press interview with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was on. Not surprisingly, Rumsfeld was taking questions about Afghanistan. In one of his comments he said that the U.S. had pulled Hamid Karzai out of Afghanistan and taken him to Pakistan. Rumsfeld went on to say that the U.S. was preparing to take him back in.
I was floored. The fact that we had taken Karzai out of Afghanistan was highly sensitive information, as was the fact that we were going to take him back. No one was supposed to know about it. Karzai himself had always denied he was outside of Afghanistan in his telephone calls to his supporters and international contacts, including the press. Now, a senior representative of the U.S. government had revealed the truth of the matter.
Not happy about what I had heard, I walked back to our building and relayed the story to Greg and the team. The first question on everyone’s mind was whether we would still go forward with the plan as scheduled. Certainly from an operational security standpoint, Rumsfeld’s statement was damaging, as Taliban and al-Qa’ida would know our intention was to bring Karzai back. With the element of surprise lost, their forces would be ready and watching. But they did not know exactly when or where his return would take place. It was kind of like the situation with Jesus or the 12th Imam: You’ve been told they are coming back, but the when or where of it was still unclear.
After due consideration by all involved parties, including CIA Headquarters and the military, the decision was that the mission would go forward as planned. Despite the increased risk, I think everyone was happy because we were more than anxious to get going.