Aerial Attack Phase One
Fixed Targets, September 9 - October 18, 2001
On September 9, 2001, Afghan Northern Alliance leader General
Ahmad Shah Massoud
was assassinated at Khwaja Bahauddin, Afghanistan, by suspected
al-Qaeda agents.
Two days later, on September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda (AQ) carried out
coordinated suicide
attacks on the United States.
On September 26, 2001, the United States Central Intelligence
Agency inserted Special
Activities Division (SAD) Team Jawbreaker, flown in by a
CIA-owned MI-17 helicopter into
the Panjshir Valey, north of Kabul. The team coordinated with
representatives from the
Northern Alliance, establishing a base of operations close to
Barak, communicating back
to the CIA Counterterrorist Center (CTC.)
On the night of October 7, 2001, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM
began with the aerial
bombing against preplanned targets in and around Herat, Shindand,
Shibarghan, Mazar-i-Sharif,
and Kandahar.
Five Air Force B-1B and 10 B-52 beavy bombers operating out of
Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean,
25 Navy F-14 and F/A-18 fighters launched from USS Enterprise
and USS Carl Vinson in the
North Arabian Sea, and two Air Force B-2 stealth bombers
conducted the opening-night attacks,
each carrying 16 2,000-lb satellite-aided GBU-31 Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAMs) directed
against Taliban early warning radars and military headquarters
buildings.
