As most American troops prepare to withdraw in 2014, the CIA and military special operations forces to be left behind are girding for the next great pivot of the campaign, one that could stretch their war up to another decade.
The war's 10th anniversary Friday recalled the beginnings of a conflict that drove the Taliban from power and lasted far longer than was imagined.
"We put a CIA guy in first," scant weeks after the towers in New York fell, said Lt Gen John Mulholland, then a colonel with US special operations forces, in charge of the military side of the operation. US Special Forces Green Berets, together with CIA officers, helped coordinate anti-Taliban forces on the ground with US firepower from the air, to topple the Taliban and close in on al-Qaida.
Recent remarks from the White House suggest the CIA and special operations forces will be hunting al-Qaida and working with local forces long after most US troops have left.
When Afghan troops take the lead in 2014, "the US remaining force will be basically an enduring presence force focused on counter-terrorism," said National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, in remarks in Washington in mid-September. That will be augmented by teams that will continue to train Afghan forces, added White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.
The White House insists this does not mean abandoning the strategy of counterinsurgency, in which large numbers of troops are needed to keep the population safe. It simply means replacing the surge of 33,000 US troops, as it withdraws over the next year, with newly trained Afghan ones, according to senior White House Afghan war adviser Doug Lute.
It also means US special operators and CIA officers will be there for the next turn in the campaign. That's the moment when Afghans will either prove themselves able to withstand a promised Taliban resurgence, or find themselves overwhelmed by seasoned Taliban fighters.
"We're moving toward an increased special operations role," together with US intelligence, Mulholland said, "whether it's counter-terrorism-centric, or counter-terrorism blended with counterinsurgency."
As outgoing head of US Army Special Operations Command, Mulholland has been in charge of feeding a steady stream of troops to commanders in the field. He knows they need as many special operations troops as he can produce and send. Those special operations forces under his command include US Army Rangers, known for their raiding operations against militant targets, and US Special Forces Green Berets, whose stock in trade is teaching local forces to fight a common enemy so the US doesn't have to.