Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan Round Patch

They operated in the shadows of a country defined by mountains, dust, and unrelenting danger. The Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force–Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A) brought together America’s most elite warriors—Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Air Force Special Tactics, Marine Raiders, Rangers, intelligence teams, and international partners—into a single, unified force designed to hunt terrorists, dismantle insurgencies, and build the foundations of security in one of the world’s most complex battlefields.

CJSOTF-A’s story stretches back to the earliest days after 9/11, when Special Forces A-Teams rode on horseback across the Hindu Kush, calling in airstrikes from B-52s as they linked up with the Northern Alliance to topple the Taliban regime. What followed was not just a campaign but a decades-long fight—counterterrorism, village stability operations, intelligence fusion, hostage rescues, and precision missions carried out in the dead of night against targets who vanished into mountains at dawn.

From firebases carved into cliffsides in Kunar and Nuristan to remote valleys in Uruzgan and Zabul, CJSOTF-A operators fought in terrain that punished the unprepared: brutal altitude, winter storms that closed entire provinces, and summer heat that turned riverbeds into dust. They worked with Afghan commandos and special police units, training them to conduct independent operations. They lived among local tribes, gathered human intelligence in places untouched by modern infrastructure, and executed missions where minutes often meant life or death.

Green Beret detachments conducted Village Stability Operations that became legendary—embedding in isolated communities, building defense forces from scratch, and fighting side by side with Afghan locals against Taliban and Haqqani fighters. Navy SEAL platoons carried out high-risk raids against bomb-makers, facilitators, and insurgent leaders. Air Force Combat Controllers and JTACs directed air support in firefights where the mountains distorted radio signals and aircraft depended on a single voice to bring them onto target safely.

CJSOTF-A’s intelligence networks mapped insurgent movements across Helmand, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Kabul. Their operators executed missions that disrupted attacks, safeguarded elections, rescued hostages, and dismantled terror cells before they struck. Many of their battles were never publicized, their victories never broadcast—but every one of them shaped the war’s trajectory.

Famous names passed through this command—elite units from 5th, 7th, and 10th Special Forces Groups; SEAL Teams 2, 3, and 10; Marine Special Operations Companies; Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons; British SAS and SBS; Australian Commandos; Polish GROM; and more. Together they formed a coalition of quiet professionals who operated with precision, discipline, and unbreakable resolve.

The Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force–Afghanistan patch honors those warriors—the ones who hit targets before sunrise, who patrolled valleys where ambushes were measured in meters, who called in support under fire, and who earned the trust of communities living on the edge of war. It represents the edge of American and coalition capability, applied with surgical skill in one of the most unforgiving environments on earth.