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How did Navy SEALs take part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?

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U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command training mission — special operations warfare Members of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command training for water rescue, 2007.

During the global war on terrorism following the September 11 attacks, Navy SEALs were in almost constant rotation in both the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. In the context of special operations warfare, these deployments marked a shift for the units, as they conducted numerous counterguerrilla and counterterrorist operations far from the coastal or riverine environments with which they are traditionally associated.1

These missions were characterized by the unorthodox, small-scale, and flexible nature of special forces, which are designed to resolve strategic problems that are difficult to address with conventional military forces alone. The most prominent example of their involvement was the 2011 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where SEAL Team 6—also known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group—located and killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. This operation demonstrated the versatility of the SEALs in executing complex, high-stakes missions deep inland, far from the open seas.2314