A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier caught in a firefight in eastern Afghanistan on Friday became the first American serviceman killed by hostile fire in the three-month war against terrorism, underscoring the perils still facing U.S. troops despite the defeat of the Taliban regime and the rout of Al Qaeda forces.
Accompanied by a CIA officer and other American operatives, Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman had just met with Afghan tribal leaders near the village of Khost when he was killed during an exchange of small-arms fire, Pentagon officials said.
The CIA officer suffered a gunshot wound to his upper chest but survived. No other Americans and none of the tribal leaders were injured in the attack. The CIA officer’s name was not released.
About 1,000 Al Qaeda fighters have sought refuge in the region around Khost in the weeks since Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network was rooted out of the cave complexes in Tora Bora, about 60 miles to the north.
As the U.S. continues to track down fleeing Al Qaeda fighters and leaders, it has been assigning Special Forces teams to develop relationships with local tribal leaders who know the terrain and can help in the hunt.
Chapman, 31, of San Antonio, was with an American contingent meeting with tribal leaders. The ambush occurred after the meeting, when Chapman and the CIA officer stayed behind with the Afghan fighters, a U.S. official said.
Pentagon and U.S. intelligence officials did not say who was behind the ambush, but the focus appeared to be Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, not the bandits roaming the region.
“This American serviceman was doing his job,” U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, told reporters at a briefing at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa. “He was out for the purpose of working with and coordinating with tribal leaders in that area.
“I am thankful every day that we have not lost more people than we have lost in this fight,” Franks continued. “But I will tell you, in each case when we have lost someone, I think it touches my command, and it touches all of us very deeply.”
Near the village of Baghran, Taliban fighters holed up–possibly with the ousted Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar–began turning in their weapons to Afghan troops attempting to negotiate a surrender. The Pentagon has stressed that if Omar is captured, it wants him handed over to U.S. forces.
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However, Abdullah, foreign minister for Afghanistan’s interim government, said Friday that Omar would be transferred to the custody of an international tribunal if caught.
“He has committed crimes against humanity–he will be tried in an international tribunal,” Abdullah, who uses only one name, told reporters in Kabul, the Afghan capital. “He will have what he deserves.”
Pakistan agreed to turn over to the U.S. two key leaders sought by the Pentagon–the Taliban’s former ambassador to Pakistan and an Al Qaeda figure who ran bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.
Franks said the firefight that killed Chapman was unrelated to U.S. air strikes Friday on an Al Qaeda terrorist training camp called Zhawar Kili near Khost, where U.S. military leaders believed Al Qaeda fighters and leaders were regrouping. U.S. warplanes pounded the camp with more than 100 bombs Thursday.
On Friday, Pentagon leaders said that pockets of Taliban and Al Qaeda resistance still pose threats to U.S. and Afghan forces and that the U.S. still has at least eight more Al Qaeda terrorist training camps to investigate.
“I’m indeed pleased with the progress that has been made in the last 90 days,” Franks said, “but much very dangerous work remains to be done.”
Other American military personnel have been killed in the war but none as a result of hostile fire. Three Green Berets were killed by an errant U.S. air strike north of Kandahar on Dec. 5. On Oct. 19, two Army Rangers died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Pakistan.
CIA operative Johnny Micheal Spann was killed Nov. 25 during an uprising staged by Al Qaeda prisoners held captive by Northern Alliance troops in Mazar-e Sharif. Shot to death by rioting prisoners, Spann had been assigned to the prison to interview Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters after their surrender.
“In each conflict that our nation’s been in throughout our history, we have had people hurt and we have had people killed, and it is no more pleasant today than it has been in the past,” Franks said.
The general said that the Zhawar Kili site is one of 48 Al Qaeda terrorist camps the Pentagon has put on a list to investigate for intelligence material and munitions. All but eight have been checked by U.S. troops, he said.
All but one of the eight Al Qaeda cave complexes in the Tora Bora region have been searched by U.S. Special Forces teams. Franks said forensics experts have been enlisted to scrutinize the remains of people found inside the caves to see whether any are top Al Qaeda leaders sought by the U.S.
Franks would not quantify how many bodies have been found, saying only that “we’ve found evidence of a considerable loss of life,” along with large storehouses of ammunition and at least one tank.
Special Forces units are also with Afghan troops that have surrounded what is believed to be Omar’s hideout in Baghran, about 100 miles northwest of Kandahar, once the Taliban’s home base and the birthplace of its movement.
Franks reiterated the Pentagon’s insistence that Omar, who had slipped out of Kandahar when anti-Taliban troops took over the city Dec. 7, be handed over to U.S. custody whenever he is captured.
“I think we have an expectation with respect to the senior Taliban leadership,” Franks said, “and I think we’ll stay with our expectation.”
Another key Taliban official, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, is expected to be in U.S. custody soon. Zaeef, the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, was arrested by Pakistani authorities earlier this week. Pakistani authorities have been questioning Zaeef in the northwestern city of Peshawar and on Friday agreed to turn him over to the U.S., The Associated Press reported, quoting unnamed Pakistani and U.S. officials.
Pakistan has handed over to the U.S. Al Qaeda leader Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi, who oversaw bin Laden’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Al-Libi is believed to be the highest-ranking Al Qaeda prisoner in U.S. custody.
With the Afghan interim government in power in Kabul, Franks predicted a period of calm punctuated by military emergencies as U.S. forces continue to pursue Al Qaeda and Taliban forces still at large.
He added that other countries such as Somalia that may harbor Al Qaeda cells will be watched closely.
“Somalia, as a failed state, is an area where we believe in the past, certainly, there has been some terrorist activity, and I think we’ll take a hard look at it to be sure” that that is not the case today, Franks said.
In Kabul, Afghan leaders signed an agreement with British Gen. John McColl for the deployment of a 4,500-strong International Security Assistance Force to help stabilize the country.
The British-led force will be drawn from 12 nations, mostly European, and the Afghan soldiers roaming the streets will be expected to return to barracks once the force is fully deployed, McColl said.