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Focus “Not” On Capture Now, Source Says
Saturday, September 29, 2001
By Earl Lane Craig Gordon / Newsday
Also The New York Times & Knight Ridder

U.S. begins quiet invasion

WASHINGTON -- The Charlotte Observer
American reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering teams have been on the ground in Afghanistan for at least 10 days as a prelude to any effort to go after Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and members of his terrorist network, an intelligence official said Friday.

The teams are a combined operation by the military's Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA, the source said. He discounted reports that American and British commandos already are attempting to capture bin Laden. The teams now in Afghanistan, he said, are on an intelligence mission and "are not searching through caves and shooting at people."

The special operations forces likely to go after bin Laden in substantial numbers remain outside Afghanistan, in staging areas such as Uzbekistan, according to the source.

The Joint Special Operations Command can use troops such as the Army Delta Force commandos and Navy SEALs, according to John Pike, director of the nonprofit GlobalSecurity.org.
(More: Charlotte.com/observer News Source)
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