FoxNews is reporting -

[size=4][b]U.S. Ground Troops Move Into Afghanistan [/b][/size=4]

WASHINGTON — A handful of U.S. special forces are on the ground in Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said Friday, and action there could increase significantly in the coming days.


For the first time, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the U.S. military is coordinating with anti-Taliban forces on the ground, providing food, ammunition and money.

"There is good coordination from the air with the ground in some places, particularly in the north," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. "There is not that kind of coordination as of yet in the south."

A U.S. official said separately that U.S. special forces were supporting intelligence efforts to undermine the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military action could increase markedly in coming days.

A Pakistani official, also not wanting to be identified, said Pakistan was told by the Americans that special forces were dropped into Taliban territory on Thursday.

"Their basic purpose will not be to seize anything, but to conduct hit-and-run operations, pinpoint installations, smoke out terrorists," said the Pakistani military official.

The official said U.S. forces have also been in anti-Taliban northern alliance territory of Afghanistan for more than one week.

Rumsfeld would not confirm that special operations forces were in Afghanistan. "Any ground forces are in harm's way," he told reporters on the way to talk with B-2 bomber crews at the Missouri Air Force base.

The Pentagon chief didn't provide details of U.S. support for the northern alliance rebels and other anti-Taliban groups.

Gaining the support of anti-Taliban fighters across Afghanistan will help the U.S. meet its goal of rooting out Al Qaeda and toppling the Taliban, Rumsfeld said.

"It is going to be a lot easier, in my view, to try to persuade a number of them to oppose the Taliban and oppose Al Qaeda and to help defeat them, than it is, in fact, to defeat" the terrorists, he said.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three teams are on the ground — two teams working with indigenous forces in southern Afghanistan and a third "search and destroy" team south of Kabul. The teams usually consist of about 12 soldiers.

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Eric The(NowLetHellLooseUponThem!)Hun[>]:)]

The 'Search and Destroy' Team operating south of Kabul may be the same folks said by Iranian Radio to have engaged in firefights with the Taliban near Kandahar as reported in the Times of India, Wednesday -

See: [url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=61693[/url]

Eric The(We'veGot'EmWhereWeWant'Em,Now!)Hun[>]:)]

They need to clear a perimeter around Bagram Airport so they can utilize it for CAS!  The NA Generals are crying and screaming for some CAS around the airbase, I hope they can clear that site out soon.