In any agency of American law enforcement these people would be classified as "armed and extremely dangerous."
It was a gunfight and if they forgot their AK's then shame on 'em. These were some dangerous people and if they were not armed at the time then they were scrambling as fast as they could to get armed.
Fact is, they felt safe. They were under the shadow of a somewhat sympathetic populace and living next to a modern miltary that "could certainly detect outside entry of an opposing force and likely repel it well before the in-country". Or, so they thought.
Fact is, this was a BAD-ASSED mission further than we can presently grasp...these guys breached deep into a nuclear country that has advanced detection systems in place. The logistics involved in timing that "radar window" caused by the surrounding mountains is straight 'heroic'. If Pakistan's Air Force had intercepted a whiff of security breach they would have quickly scrambled their latest collaboration with the Chinese Chengdu corporation, the J-F 17 Thunder. The Thunder that has replaced their aging French Mirage, and it is likely that members of the "Black Spiders" would have shot our men from the sky. This was not Mogadishu, which proved incredibly dangerous, but was a major in-country thrust against the world's 7th largest military. The Pakistani's train all of the time due to the tension created with India over the region of Kashmir. Ask any well-heeled analyst what the world's most contentious spot is and one most likely to see a nuclear event and they will respond "Kashmir".
Balls out call by a Commander-in-Chief who actually claimed he's do such a thing while campaigning. The Pakistani's were even forewarned that he might do such an 'outlandish thing' as John McCain described it. In the end, he could have come off worse than Jimmy Carter. Our guys could have been detected by numerous means...but in the end The President likely listened to the SEAL Commanders who told him "Sir, we can get this son-of- a-bitch...let us take him out!" --- and the President, weighed it, like all good Presidents do, and then he decided to make the potentially devastating yet truly courageous decision to "act right now!."
Bully for you Mr. President! I am often at odds with you but not on this call.
