Operation Rhino

Operation Rhino was a raid led by the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment (Regimental Reconnaissance Company) and (3rd Ranger Battalion), who were led by Colonel Joseph Votel, and other SOCOM units on several Taliban targets in and around Kandahar, Afghanistan during the invasion of Afghanistan at the start of the War in Afghanistan. The operation was motivated by a desire for the White House and Tommy Franks to capture video footage of special forces parachuting deep into enemy territory. Intelligence reports at the time indicated that the targeted airfield was empty, leading them to believe that the Rangers would face no resistance from the Taliban. The operation has faced subsequent criticism for its focus on media portrayal rather than solely military objectives.
Plan
The Ranger's objectives were to:
Seize the landing strip (to become Camp Rhino)
Destroy any Taliban forces
Gather intelligence
Assess the suitability of the landing strip for future operations
Establish a forward aerial refuel/rearm point (FARP) for helicopters involved in the nearby operation at Objective Gecko
Destroy major weapons and utilities
Operation
In October of 2001, a Ranger Reconnaissance team jumped into Afghanistan to recon the airfield. In a twist of irony, despite initial reports indicating no presence of enemy forces and expectations of an empty airfield, intelligence personnel suddenly expressed excessive concern at the mission's start. They cautioned the rangers to be prepared for potential Taliban forces equipped with advanced night vision goggles and warned about Taliban air defenses, mines on the objective, the presence of a ZSU 23-4 antiaircraft weapon, and the possibility of the Taliban possessing Stinger and Redeye antiaircraft missiles that the US had supplied to the mujahideen in the 1980s.
On the night of 19 October 2001, before the Rangers dropped, several targets on and around the objective were targeted by U.S. air power, first by bombs dropped from B-2 stealth bombers, then by fire from orbiting AC-130 aircraft. Some sources report that these air strikes resulted in up to 11 Taliban fighters KIAs and several Taliban forces fleeing the area. Following the air strikes, the four MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft flew over the drop zone (DZ) at 800 feet. In zero illumination, the Rangers proceeded to exit the MC-130s.
One company of rangers, accompanied by a sniper team, secured the area and established strategic positions to defend against potential counterattacks. The compound was completely empty and the presence of combat cameramen and a Navy P-3C Orion command and control plane overhead highlighted the importance placed on capturing propaganda footage during the operation. No U.S. casualties were suffered in the operation itself but two Rangers assigned to Combat Search and Rescue element supporting the mission were killed when their MH-60L helicopter crashed at Objective Honda in Pakistan - a temporary staging site used by a company of Rangers from 3/75. The helicopter crashed due to a brownout.
Result
As a result of the raid, a base was set up over the airstrip and named Camp Rhino. It was then handed off to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who began leading forward operations throughout Kandahar along with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. Although the operation failed to yield any valuable intelligence, the military authorities still claimed it a success. A former Delta Force officer has revealed that Dell Dailey, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at the time "believed that if we raided empty targets in Afghanistan and filmed the raids for the world to see, we would have some kind of morale-breaking effect on the enemy." The video footage from the operation was presented at a Pentagon press conference the day after the operation and distributed to every major news organization in both the United States and abroad.
Criticism
The daring operation to deploy Rangers to a remote location has been a subject of controversy among critics. They have argued that the high stakes and logistical challenges involved placed the soldiers at significant and avoidable risk. Some even suggest that the mission was little more than a theater staged by the White House for political reasons.
References
Conflicts in 2001
Battles of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Rhino
Rhino
United States Army Rangers
2001 in Afghanistan
United States Marine Corps in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
History of Kandahar Province
Battles in 2001