Upon ARRIVAL IN JACOBABAD we moved into tents close to the airfield. Within a day or two, Special Forces ODA 583 came down from Karshi Khanabad, Uzbekistan, to join us. Other than brief introductions between myself and Hank, the ODA team leader, there was almost no interaction with the rest of the ODA for the first day or two. They kept to their area, and it seemed like they did not know what to make of us, or if they could trust us. I kind of understood that. We were the CIA after all, and God only knew what bullshit they had been told.
I decided that as it was entirely possible we all might die together in the next few days, it would be good if we got to know each other. So slowly we introduced ourselves to the ODA members and the ice began to break. Then we began in earnest our planning for the infiltration and link-up with Shirzai’s fighters.
My experience from having been with Echo team during its pre-mission planning phase really began to pay off, as by now I understood what needed to be done and by whom. Just as I had seen with Echo, there were a myriad of details that had to be addressed. The next three days passed quickly and the date of our infiltration, 19 November, arrived.
I received word that the approval for Gary and Mike to deploy with us had just come in, and they would be arriving in Jacobabad soon. I was thrilled, having become almost certain the approval would not come through in time.
Islamabad was also sending down a paramilitary officer named Doug who had recently arrived from Washington. He would not be part of Foxtrot team but would stay in Jacobabad to set up a logistics support base for both the Foxtrot and Echo teams. He was also bringing down $500,000 for Foxtrot to take into Afghanistan.
When Gary, Mike, and Doug arrived, Doug immediately wanted me to count and sign for the money he was carrying. Mark and I were busy doing all the final coordination with the Air Force, Islamabad station, and Headquarters, and there was no time for us to deal with the money at that moment. We also did not have any place to securely store it, which meant someone had to be with it at all times. I told Doug his primary job for the day was to take care of the money and when I was free, I would sign for it.
I could tell Doug was not happy about that. He followed me around like a puppy dog, and several times during the day he asked me again to take the money. If I’d been him, I would have wanted to get rid of the responsibility for it as well. Despite my empathy for his situation, I finally got a little angry and came unglued on him.
“Doug, I told you. You’ve got one job to do today and that is to keep this money with you and do not lose it. When, and only when I tell you I’m ready for it, will you talk to me about it.”
I knew he must have thought I was a jerk, but at least he didn’t bother me anymore about the money.
Just hours before we were to board the helicopter for the air insertion, we received the enemy threat briefing from the squadron intelligence staff. It was the same drill I went through with Echo team, and it was a reminder that even though Kabul had fallen a few days before, there were a lot of bad guys still in the South. In fact, there were probably more than had been there before Kabul’s fall. The briefers told us that the greater Kandahar area had an estimated 20,000 Taliban and al-Qa’ida fighters. An estimated 5,000 of these were believed to be in and around the city of Spin Boldak, which was near the Pakistani border. This was of immediate significance as our plan was to join up with Shirzai’s fighters in the Shin Naray Valley north of Spin Boldak and then move southward to capture that city. After that, we would turn our sights to the primary objective of Kandahar, which was connected to Spin Boldak by Highway 4.
Highway 4 was of strategic importance in its own right as it was the only principal route to Pakistan from Kandahar. Al-Qa’ida frequently used the highway to move back and forth. By our controlling it, al-Qa’ida fighters would lose the use of the highway as a resupply and escape route.
While the number of enemy fighters was sobering, the final piece of bad news was almost as alarming. Unlike the area where Echo team had infiltrated, Foxtrot was headed to an area where there were heavy concentrations of land mines, i.e. “snakes.”