# Allied troops already in Afghanistan?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 25, 2001, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651 "2001-09-25T07:42:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![monart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@monart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monart)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651/1 "2001-09-25T07:42:20Z")

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[http://www.debka.com](http://www.debka.com) is an Israeli news site that is reporting that American, British, and German troops are already on the ground in Afghanistan and have exchanged fire with the Tabelan. Rumor has it their source is the Mossad. Could there really be allied troops in Bin Laden’s back yard already and the rest of the media doesn’t know? Who is [deka.com](http://deka.com)?

monart

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**Author:** ![bwanasimba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/53a042/32.png) [@bwanasimba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwanasimba)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651/2 "2001-09-25T08:59:32Z")

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Depends what you mean by “troops”. An old school friend who I went through the cadets with said that it is standard operating practise for special forces to already be in Afghanistan. Until recently he was a seargeant in the SAS.

I do not know who [debka.com](http://debka.com) is.

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651/3 "2001-09-25T09:01:33Z")

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There is believed to be an entire SAS regiment of around 700 men operating as two-man reconnaissance patrols in Afghanistan. Obviously the Ministry of Defence isn’t confirming this.

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**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651/4 "2001-09-25T11:40:49Z")

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‘Won’t confirm or deny’ is standard proceedure

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid\_1559000/1559084.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1559000/1559084.stm)

but if this ‘outing’ is to be consistent with previous example like the Gulf War, Kosovo, Falklands, they’ve probably been doing recon since around the end of last week.

I agree with **Crusoe** , it’s probably the biggest ever deployment of the SAS (in % terms).

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allied-troops-already-in-afghanistan/83651/5 "2001-09-25T14:40:20Z")

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It’s a safe bet that special foreces are in “enemy territory” long before anyone knows.

Even in the Gulf, SF was losing men long before even the air raids commenced.