"Launching out intermittently from safe bases was not the answer. Existing and patrolling in depth over lengthy periods and I'm talking about weeks, smack in the centre of the ACM havens, was a tactic the SAS employed that the enemy did not expect; and it did have the desired effect of unsettling them psychologically and undermining their ability to function with their normal expected impunity in these areas.
Whilst the ACM had an excellent early warning network, the SAS with its ever-increasing familiarity with the environment and displaying characteristic audaciousness and skill were regularly able to penetrate to attack Taliban leadership. This heralded a second phase for the deployment, with the Task Group actively targeting to good effect ACM key leaders in carefully planned and coordinated direct action operations involving both SAS and the Commandos."
