By TERENCE STRONG

Like they’ve never been away, up to a 60 plus-man Squadron of the SAS is being redeployed to Afghanistan to support the new military “surge” planned by the Donald Trump administration.

With Marine Corps vets dominating in the White House, the new President is determined to crush reviving Taliban forces and the Islamic State and al-Qaeda forces they are harbouring.

SAS troops are likely to be joined by members of the smaller Special Boat Service (Royal Marines), which had made Special Forces’ activities their own during the prolonged conflict in the country.

Serious concerns about the regrouping and rapid growth of the extreme Taliban religious sect, which previously ran the country, were confirmed in recent weeks by the British Army’s top-secret Defence Intelligence Unit. It specialises in training and operating human intelligence (“humint”) and running agents on the ground in war-zones, being particularly adept at focusing on target recognition of terror group leaders.

Any new “surge” by the United States is likely to see a return to the Black Ops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Although criticised by many neo-liberals back home, they proved to be ruthlessly efficient in smashing the rule of terror in both countries. They comprised night-after-night of surprise raids, snatch squads and harsh interrogation with immediate follow-up of intelligence gleaned. It wasn’t always a pretty sight. (See Some Unholy War).

The operations took their toll on Special Forces operators themselves as well as the terrorist networks they destroyed.

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