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British Special Forces Operations From Belgrade to Baghdad.
27,000 feet above the desert of southern Afghanistan the night-time air temperature was nearly sixty degrees below zero; the first SAS teams deployed into action were going in by freefall parachute jump. Carrying their own body weight in equipment, eight men from Air Troop of 22 SAS 'G' Squadron braced themselves to dive backwards off the tailgate of the Hercules transport aircraft, falling earthwards at speeds of up to 140mph. Below them lay a Taliban headquarters, a vicious firefight against al-Qaeda, and the possibility of killing or capturing Osama bin Laden.
Grouped on the tailgate, they watched the lights above them switch from red to green, and then the RAF parachute jump instructor, voice muffled by his oxygen mask, screamed 'Go,' dispatching the eight British Special Forces men backwards into the freezing air of the lower stratosphere.
British Special Forces from the SAS and the SBS have formed the cutting edge of British foreign policy since the mid-1990s. From Kosovo to Sierra Leone, and from Afghanistan to Iraq, the British government has sent Special Forces into action, and time and again these small teams of specialist solders have achieved incredible successes, despite their tiny numbers, as well as frustrating failures. The United States deploys 'Special Forces' over ten thousand strong: the United Kingdom sends in just a few hundred.
As foreign correspondent, Christian Jennings spent ten years in the Balkans and Central Africa, observing British forces in action alongside the confusing mass of international soldiery deployed to enforce UN resolutions.
From SAS operations inside Kosovo to missions to arrest Balkan war criminals, and from the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to operations against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, he tells the story of how Britain's SAS and SBS operate. He examines how the strategy of 'new warfare' is conducted and assesses the future for our Special Forces now that they have become the weapon of first resort for British prime ministers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Christian Jennings is a foreign correspondent who has been covering military interventions, Special Forces operations and world conflicts for twelve years in thirteen different countries. He was based in Kosovo and the Balkans from 1999-2003 for The Economist and the Daily Telegraph and prior to this he spent four years in Central Africa, reporting mainly for Reuters from Rwanda and Burundi.
He is the author of three previous books, including Mouthful of Rocks,his acclaimed account of life in the French Foreign Legion,andGreen-Eyed Boys, the story of 3 Para and the battle for Mount Longdon in the Falklands. His latest work is Across the Red River. This is a much-praised first-hand account of four years spent covering genocide and war in Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire.

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