Infantry: July 5, 2002

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: Norway has also provided a number of special forces to the operation Enduring freedom, under the auspices of the Norwegian Special Operation Forces Task Group (NORSOF TG). These commandos are experts in winter operations and will took part in both reconnaissance and offensive operations. By June, they had been operating in Afghanistan for six months, particularly in the Paktia, Paktika and Logar provinces, as well as eastern Afghanistan and the Gardez area. A US Defense Department fact sheet issued on 26 February cites their missions as having yielded "valuable human intelligence." Norway announced on 29 May that it was pulling its special forces out of Afghanistan in July, as part of already-announced changes to the composition of its international coalition contingent.

The first-ever pictures to be released of NORSOF TG can be found online at http: www.mil.no/start/article.jhtml?articleID=21667 . They are apparently using a mix of Norwegian light green, dark green and tan uniform parts, along with US desert camo. One photo shows a standard-issue Diemaco C-7 (Improved M-16) 5.56mm. It is not possible to see the optical sight on the weapon, while a desert camouflaged Mercedes Gelndewagen rigged with side-mounted jerry-cans and a 12.7mm M2HB QCB HMG. - Adam Geibel