American Valor Quarterly Issue 2 - Spring 2008 | Page 33

The Battle of Tarin Kowt An Excerpt from Veterans Chronicles All Americans remember where they were on September 11, 2001. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon led the United States military to undertake Operation Enduring Freedom—the removal of the Taliban regime and their terrorist allies from Afghanistan. Playing what turned out to be a vital role in the early days of the fight against the Taliban was then-Army Special Forces Captain Jason Amerine, whose elite elevenman team worked with and advised an Afghan opposition leader—Hamid Karzai—during the battle for Tarin Kowt. The victory achieved by the allied forces helped to propel Karzai to become President of Afghanistan. then leave. So when I was with them, we were the only Special Forces team training with them; the only military unit training with them at the time. Pell: And you were there on September 11, 2001. Maj. Amerine: Right, we had been there for about three weeks when September 11th occurred; right there at the end of our training and getting ready to come home. Then, after September 11th, because the air flights were frozen, we ended up staying At the Tenth Annual Conference, now-Major Amerine sat down with Gene another 10 days. Pell, host of the American Veterans Center’s weekly radio series Veterans Chronicles to recount his part in one of the most amazing stories of Gene Pell: What were your thoughts when you heard about the Operation Enduring Freedom. Stationed in the Middle East in Kazakhstan attacks on New York and Washington and the crash in when the attacks occurred on September 11th, Amerine and his men knew Pennsylvania? exactly where they would be going next… Maj. Amerine: It’s funny the clarity one has. I received a phone Maj. Jason Amerine: When I went Special Forces, my first real call from my liaison working at the American embassy in Almaty; assignment was in Kuwait, as part of our rotations there to help we were actually outside of Almaty training the paratroopers at defend Kuwait against Iraq. I commanded two Special Forces the time. He called first to tell us that there had been an accident teams, ODA 572 and then ODA 574. When I took over 574, at the World Trade Center, then he called back later, clearly in our mission was to work in Kazakhstan for the better part of a tears, to tell us that, in fact, the World Trade Center had been year. In the year leading up to 9/11, I spent much of the year attacked and what was going on. And there was no question in flying back and forth to Kazakhstan to train their paratroopers. our minds that it was al Qaeda, and there was going to be a war They had an insurgency that was sponsored by the Taliban called in Afghanistan. We knew it. No doubt, no question. Our thoughts the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan that they were fighting, so were to get back and get ready for the war. There was no special we were really teaching counterinsurgency skills to the Kazaks. intel being fed to us, we were just very aware of the terrorist threats. There was that clarity. Gene Pell: What kind of U.S. presence was there in Kazakhstan, just you and a handful? Ten days later we went back to the United States and went into a deliberate planning process where we did some last-minute Maj. Amerine: Kazakhstan was definitely warming up to the training, and went into isolation in preparation for going into United States; not to anger the Russians, who they also needed as Afghanistan. an ally, but Kazakhstan is and will continue to be afraid of the Chinese, so they see their relationship with the United States as a Pell: One of the things that intrigues me is that when you went in way of countering the threat of China, which goes hand in hand there, you went in with a force of less than a dozen? with their friendship of the Russians. So they’ve been opening up for a number of years, and have had the 82nd Airborne up there, Maj. Amerine: Initially, my team went into Afghanistan with as well as a number of military units. Generally, though, it has not nine, because of weight restrictions, we had to bring in our other been very many at a time. Just one unit will train with them and two guys about four days l