“We had been working with local police,” said Staff Sgt. Patrick Brannon, scout squad leader from Jacksonville, Ill. “Some of the information we had received led us to 18,000 DshKa heavy machine gun rounds, so we new their information was legitimate.” Further intelligence reports placed 80 – 150 Taliban operating in the area. “We were informed that the Taliban were threatening the people for cooperating with Coalition forces,” said Brannon. “We moved east through a valley,” said Spc. Joseph Leatham, from El Mirage, Ariz., describing the movement toward the Taliban position. “We were surrounded by walls – steep cliffs. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.” Afghan man complains of beating Ten minutes into the trip, an Afghan man approached the convoy. The man had been recently released by the Taliban after having been beaten and threatened with execution for cooperation with Coalition forces. “The guy said he was about to be executed and that there were about 30 Taliban in the area,” said Sgt. Nick Pak from Tampa, Fla. “He had a note around his neck threatening the people and demanding that there be no schools.” While explaining what had happened, two Taliban members were spotted and identified by the man. Once confirmed as Taliban, the Afghan National Police opened fire. Almost simultaneously, the convoy began receiving small arms fire from multiple directions. The scouts received approval to engage the enemy and sent a sniper team to an over-watch position. Outnumbered scouts return fierce fire “As soon as we got to the top, we got RPG and small arms fire,”said Spc. Nicholas Conlon, a scout sniper from Bridgewater, Mass. “Pieces of rocks were breaking off all around us,” added sniper team leader Sgt. Derek Huss, from Deer Park, Wash. “One [RPG] hit real close.” At this point, all the scouts were engaged in a heavy exchange of fire. The scouts attempted to seal off the objective so the enemy could not escape. The fierce exchange was ordered to continue so that reinforcements could trap the Taliban and eliminate them. The outnumbered scouts engaged and re-engaged the insurgent forces three times before reinforcement from friendly forces could arrive. Gunner keeps firing from burning Humvee “The enemy was trying to overrun our truck, so we broke contact,” said Brannon. As the Scouts tried to maneuver into a better position, one of the Humvees took several rocket-propelled grenade hits and burst into flames. “I yelled ‘You’re on fire! You’re on Fire!’ to the other truck,” said Pak. The truck’s gunner continued to fire his .50-cal machine gun as the Humvee was engulfed in flames. “The truck was on fire but Leatham was still rocking the .50-cal,” said Pak. “The truck started rolling backwards,” said Leatham. “I was still shooting and Sergeant Huss was trying to stop the truck. Sergeant Brannon was providing cover fire so I could get out of the vehicle.” Helicopter attempts to land reinforcements “We were pinned down pretty bad,” said Sgt. Michael Ortiz, the assigned medic from Denver. “At that point, Chosen Company tried to land but they couldn’t.” “I laid down suppressive fire with the Mk-19 so the bird could land,” said Pfc. Nathan Reilly, from Greensburg, Pa. “The landing zone was really hot and they couldn’t land.” As much as the scouts laid down cover fire the landing zone was taking too much fire for the reinforcements to land. The scouts, who had been engaged in the firefight for more than two and a half hours, watched as the CH-47 Chinook aborted the landing and flew away. “You can’t imagine how scary it is to be in a fire fight like this and after two and a half hours of fighting, to see the support leave,” Ortiz said. Paratroopers land in hot LZ “The scouts were in contact and at that point we were a QRF,” said 1st Lt. Les Craig from Erie, Pa., and platoon leader of 1st Platoon, or the “Bullies” as they are called by Chosen Company. Chosen Company is part of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne), who were operating in the area. The 2-503rd was part of the Southern European Task Force originally based in Vicenza, Italy, and now part of CJTF-76 in Afghanistan. “We got reports that the landing zone was hot while we were in the air,” said Craig. “The other friendly forces that had landed were already in contact.” The helicopter finally was able to land and 1st Platoon’s “Bullies” poured from the Chinook ready to relieve the embattled scouts. Although 1st Platoon didn’t receive any immediate fire, suspicious activity was all around. “I was trying to get a feel of where our Soldiers were,” said Craig. “We knew there were bad guys but we didn’t know where they were,” said Sgt. 1st Class David Cavataio, the Bullies’ platoon sergeant from Chicago. “We set up security and started pushing up.” Taliban takes cover in village Soon after setting up an over-watch position, insurgent forces were spotted. “When we got clearance and confirmation that they had weapons, we opened fire, but they opened up on us at the same time and the exchange started,” Cavataio said. The plan was to systematically clear one of the nearby villages of danger, explained Craig. “From the south part of the town, we began clearing the village from east to west,” said Craig. “There were high walls and locked doors everywhere.” The Taliban had sealed the village to make it difficult for Coalition Forces to clear by barricading and locking all doors and gates. The platoon had to make use of sappers to get through the mud hut maze. The platoon, left with little choice, bypassed clearing the hamlet and pushed through to the edge of the village into an orchard. Platoon takes RPG, machine-gun fire Craig’s Soldiers received a volley of rocket propelled grenades wounding Pfc. Mathew King in the leg. “The round didn’t explode,” said Craig. “The fins cut into his leg and the round landed ten to fifteen feet in front of me and the RTO (Soldier carrying the radio).” Craig and his men continued to move forward through withering machine gun fire seeking cover behind trees and rocks. “I thought, ‘the only way we will get through this is if we push forward,’” said Craig. “It was raining branches in the orchard. My RTO tried to move forward and when he got up, a tree basically fell on him.” The paratroopers were pinned down until a machine gunner put down enough suppressive fire for the Soldiers to move forward toward the enemy. “Specialist Lewis fired a 200-round burst and that bought us a couple of seconds to bum rush the objective,” Craig said. “We approached the enemy but we thought all the guys were already engaged because no one was responding.” Creek bed enables surprise approach The element closed in on the enemy undetected, moving parallel to a sunken creek with steep rocky slopes. As the team moved past the bunker to make a limit of advance, Capt. Dirk Riggenberg, Chosen Company’s commander, moved into Choay’s old position between the wall and the bunker. Chosen’s commander received fire from a well-concealed position along the creek wall. An alert M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon gunner moved to into position and ended the fight. By the end of the battle, more than 17 enemy combatants had been confirmed killed by Chosen Company, nine captured and more possibly killed by the 2-503rd scouts. Enemy ferocity surprised some “I expected there to be stiff resistance but not as severe as this,” said Riggenberg. Chosen Company’s first sergeant, though, said he wasn’t surprised by the enemies’ dedication. “They’ve been fighting for so many years,” said 1st Sgt. Scott Brzak. “They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.” The effect the battle has had on his Soldiers is a positive one, said Brzak. “The Soldiers now know that they can depend on and trust the buddy to the left and right of them,” Brzak said. “They know their buddy will lay down their life for them. They also now know how the enemy operates and can pass this experience on to the rest of the company and the battalion.” After-action report positive All wounded ANP and U.S. Soldiers were evacuated to Kandahar Airfield for medical treatment. They were reported in stable condition. Two U.S. wounded Soldiers were treated and returned to duty. The other four Soldiers were transported to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany for further treatment and are reportedly in stable condition. Six insurgents were detained and questioned. The village leader was also detained after villagers reported him as a Taliban member. Coalition forces are also meeting with local leaders to coordinate assistance to the village. A number of questions have been raised as to the significance of the battle. The ferocity with which the insurgent fighters defended their position is atypical of the hit and run and improvised explosive device tactics the Taliban had been using since being removed from power. “This is going to force them to rethink their strategy,” Riggenberg said. “I think our tactics will force them to fight and die or surrender. I think we put them on their heels. They now know that the American Army still has the energy to hunt them down.” (Editor’s note: The Army News
Service added information to Pfc. Jon Arguello’s story from
a CJTF-76 news release and telephonic reports from Bagram Airfield,
Afghanistan.)
Jabak needs the extra water. However, village elder Haji Safi Mohammed, 70, knows that accepting American assistance is dangerous. He fears that after the U.S. troops drive away in their Humvees, local Taliban fighters will come back down from their hide-outs in the hills, seeking retribution against anyone who cooperated with the Americans. "If the Talibs saw me standing here with you, they would kill me," Mohammed tells U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Wright. "Everyone comes here in force — you, the Taliban. We are powerless. We cannot do anything." "I will help you," Wright says through an interpreter. Mohammed looks skeptical. "God will help me," he replies. Four years after they ousted the radical Islamic regime, U.S. forces are still locked in a deadly contest with Taliban holdouts in the badlands of southern and eastern Afghanistan. The ongoing war here, overshadowed by the chaos in Iraq, defies easy analysis. (Photo gallery: Afghanistan today) The Taliban fighters have suffered devastating defeats in battles with U.S. and Afghan government troops in Zabul province since May. And they have little chance of overthrowing the pro-U.S. government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai or reversing slow progress toward democracy here. By Afghanistan's rock-bottom standards, this is a period of relative peace and prosperity. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are coming home, convinced that their country has a future after three decades of war. In the rugged terrain along the Pakistan border, the Taliban can still play the spoiler — terrorizing the countryside with assassinations and bombings, attacking aid groups and making villagers like Mohammed think twice about openly supporting the Americans and Karzai's government. The stakes are rising. Afghanistan plans legislative elections Sept. 18 designed to sow representative government in an impoverished land blighted for decades by warlords, lawlessness and savagery. Hard-core Taliban insurgents are determined to disrupt the vote. "What we have now is just a battle of wills," says Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. For American troops, their coalition allies and the Afghan government, much of the news from Afghanistan recently has been grim. Four Navy Seals were caught in a firefight with Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province last month; only one survived. A helicopter sent to rescue the Seal team was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 U.S. troops. It was the deadliest blow to U.S. forces since they invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. Monday, the U.S. military reported that six U.S. troops were wounded on Sunday by a roadside bomb in the same area where the Seals were ambushed. A U.S. soldier was killed and another hurt in an attack in the southern province of Helmand on Sunday, the military said earlier. This month, Taliban fighters kidnapped and hanged a key ally of Karzai in Zabul province. Overall, more than 700 people have been killed in an increase in violence since warm weather returned to Afghanistan in March. Not another Iraq Bad as the spring and summer have been, Afghanistan is not another Iraq, where 150,000 coalition troops continue battling a determined insurgency. More than 18,000 U.S. troops, 2,000 coalition forces drawn from 22 countries and nearly 9,400 troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have slowly expanded their hold on territory outside the Afghan capital Kabul. U.S. troops have done most of the dirty work. They fight insurgents and search for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden along the Pakistani border. ISAF troops, deployed in the quieter northern and western regions, are scheduled to move into the turbulent south next year. Karzai was elected last October. Millions of Afghans defied Taliban threats, went to the polls and exercised their right to vote. Despite a bewildering number of problems — balancing political power among different ethnic groups, cracking down on the opium trade, dealing with meddlesome neighbors — Karzai's government looks secure. The parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for last year but postponed because of security concerns and logistical problems, are planned for Sept. 18. They are unlikely to be delayed again. Unlike Iraqis, most Afghans view U.S. forces and their coalition allies as neutral peacemakers, not occupiers, says Joanna Nathan, analyst for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based, non-profit group dedicated to conflict prevention. "The United States government is on the side of Afghanistan," says Zabul Gov. Delbar Arman. The Taliban can't operate nationwide like Iraq's insurgents. Instead, the Taliban mostly has been banished to the border with Pakistan, where members find refuge with sympathetic tribesmen, Arman says. Wadir Safi, a political scientist at Kabul University, agrees. "The Taliban cannot take over," he says. However, "they can confuse the minds and hearts of the people," and discourage them from supporting the government or participating in democratic politics. The Taliban still is able to recruit Afghanistan's youths, says Capt. Mike Adamski, intelligence officer for the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne) in Zabul province. Sometimes they coerce young Afghans into joining them. Sometimes they offer money and food to people who would otherwise have nothing. Sometimes they send young Afghans to Islamic schools in neighboring Pakistan, where radical preachers "get them all spun up," Adamski says. "You ask a guy why he's fighting, and he tells you, 'You're here to steal my religion.' " 'I'm going to go at him' At Forward Operating Base Lagman outside Zabul's provincial capital Qalat, U.S. paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry are trying to do what the 19th-century British and the 1980s' Soviet occupying forces could not: reach into hostile territory, find and kill Afghan insurgents, and win the sympathy of the local populace. Zabul province is the Taliban's heartland. "I'm not going to sit back at FOB Lagman," says Lt. Col. Mark Stammer, battalion commander. "I'm going to go at him. If I go up there, into his home, he'll have to fight me." Since arriving at Lagman in the spring, the battalion has sent troops into territory where the Taliban thought it could operate with impunity. "They're getting cornered in the last places they felt comfortable," says Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, the battalion's assistant operations officer. On June 21, the battalion's Chosen Company cornered Taliban forces on a hilltop in the Miana Shien district on the border of Zabul and Kandahar provinces. When the smoke cleared, at least 77 Taliban fighters were dead. No Americans were killed, although several were wounded, Hopkins says. On July 12, Chosen Company again trapped Taliban fighters in an orchard. The U.S. forces summoned Apache attack helicopters for support and killed at least 15, including a local Taliban leader. Again, no Americans were killed, Capt. Dirk Ringgenberg, Chosen Company's commander says. "I actually pity them," Ringgenberg says. "The Taliban have no chance. When U.S. paratroopers hit the ground, they're through. ... Eventually, the word is going to reach their recruiting booths." A year ago, the Taliban controlled six of Zabul's 11 districts, provincial Gov. Arman says. Now they control none. "Our enemies no longer have a place here," Arman says. "Because we are defeating them, the people are coming back to the Afghan government." First, find the Taliban To beat the Taliban in battle, U.S. forces have to first find the fighters, which means U.S. forces must gain the trust of Afghan villagers, many of whom are as reluctant as Haji Safi Mohammed to risk Taliban retaliation. Stammer admits he gets exasperated with their vacillating. "Come on, man! Get in the game! Choose a side!" he says. Meanwhile, the Taliban is changing tactics. Borrowing a page from the Iraqi insurgents, members are avoiding direct combat with U.S. troops, choosing instead to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) beneath roads and to attack unarmed aid groups and government workers. Since March, 19 IEDs have exploded or been found in the territory patrolled by Stammer's battalion — Zabul and a sliver of neighboring Kandahar province; eight IEDs have been found in Surri in southern Zabul, five since early June. This month, the battalion's Able Company set out to do something about the IEDs in Surri and the man believed responsible for them, a Taliban bombmaker named Mohammed Jan. For Able Company, the mission had special meaning. One of its own — Cpl. Steven Tucker, 19, a prankster and a proud Texan — was killed by an IED on May 21. He was the battalion's only combat death in Afghanistan. "It got personal after that," says 1st Sgt. Patrick Fatuesi, 40, of American Samoa, as a convoy of Humvees loads up for the expedition into the rugged countryside. The Humvees crawl along dry riverbeds and up dust-brown hills, stubbled with scrawny shrubs, through villages filled with mud-brick hovels and children eager for stuffed animals and pens. Joining the paratroopers is a Toyota pickup filled with young officers from the fledgling Afghan National Police, known for their fearlessness and trigger-happy style. "They're like Wyatt Earp," says Wright, Able Company's commander. The Americans believe it is vital to be seen working alongside Afghan soldiers or police to reinforce the idea that the United States is not an occupying force, but a partner with Karzai's government. Meeting with villagers, Wright, 29, of Metamora, Ill., offers help with local projects, medical care and exhortations to help fight the Taliban. In Surkhagan, a village suspected of harboring Taliban fighters, Wright summons all adult males just after dawn to the town center. The villagers reveal that the Taliban was in town a few days before. Sometime earlier, the Taliban had burned grain the Americans had donated and roughed up the villagers who accepted it. At first, the weeklong mission is frustrating. The Taliban always seems to be one step ahead. "These guys are like roaches," says Sgt. Juan Rocha, 29, of Miami. "Turn on the light and they're gone." But on Saturday, July 16, the paratroopers find a suspicious-looking man in a Surri village. He doesn't look or act like the other villagers. And his story doesn't add up. So the paratroopers detain him. Sure enough, a database search reveals he is a Taliban leader from neighboring Kandahar province. "My best guess is that he probably was there either doing recruiting or hooking up with another Taliban leader," says 1st Lt. Thomas Anderson at battalion headquarters. The military declines to reveal the man's identity. The troops at FOB Lagman will stay busy trying to stamp out the insurgency, which is expected to intensify as the election nears. "It could get quite messy," says Nathan of the International Crisis Group. Ringgenberg, rotating out as Chosen Company commander, stopped on July 18 at Kandahar Air Field where Taliban forces were bombed into submission in 2001. He was at the U.S. base there to await the flight that would take him home to Vermont for two weeks' leave. Walking into an office called TLS, a reference to the "Taliban's Last Stand," Ringgenberg looked up: "That was premature."
They Expected An Easy Ride, Then
The Enemy Struck Back WHEN the paratroopers of Chosen Company learnt that their battalion was to be sent to the mountains of southern Afghanistan instead of back to the deserts of Iraq, they heaved a collective sigh of relief. “I thought it’d be pretty relaxed, that I’d be spending a lot of time in the gym,” Sergeant Timothy Smith recalled wryly. “I figured it was more of a peacekeeping mission than anything.” But less than a month after setting up camp amid the rugged mountains of Zabul province, the heartland of the Taleban, they walked right into the battle of their lives — an intense hand-to-hand fight with what proved to be a surprisingly tenacious and determined enemy. Dug into bunkers in an orchard in the remote village of Gazek Kula, armed with machineguns and rocketpropelled grenade launchers, dozens of Taleban fighters fought for hours with the Americans, about 50 of them to the death. Weeks later the Americans were in action again, battling for almost 12 hours to oust at least 200 Taleban from the district headquarters in Miana Shin. “It’s the most intense combat I’ve ever seen,” Sergeant Smith said. “They fight harder than anyone in Iraq ever did. I really never expected anything like this. We all kind of thought the Taleban were gone.” They were not the only ones. After the Taleban failed to mount the promised campaign of disruption during last year’s presidential election, American military commanders and their Afghan counterparts confidently predicted that the rebel movement was finished. But the intensity of the battles in remote provinces such as Zabul, predominantly in the southeast, have revealed that the Taleban are still a force to be reckoned with, able to count on a steady supply of fresh recruits from the madrassas of Pakistan, where the religious movement was born. Since the winter snows melted this spring and fighters came out of the mountains, hundreds of Afghans have perished in battles, assassinations and ambushes. Most of the dead have been guerrillas, in fighting that American commanders attribute to a more aggressive search-and-destroy campaign, but many other victims have been government officials and Afghan security forces attacked by the rebels. Among the dead have been 37 American soldiers, making the past four months the bloodiest period for US forces since they invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to oust the hardline regime from power. Commanders who just a few months ago were writing off the rebel force now say that the country should expect a further increase in violence before the parliamentary elections in September. Although unable to capture and hold territory, the Taleban are now engaged in a fast-paced game of cat and mouse with American and Afghan forces, striking them when the opportunity arises while they pursue a campaign of intimidation against the local population. The soldiers of the 2nd battalion, 503rd infantry, who arrived here four months ago, have been forced to alter their expectations radically. They are the first to admit that they are astonished by the tenacity of the fighters. When American forces arrived in Miana Shin district late last month after reports that the Taleban had taken over the town, villagers told them that the guerrillas had warned them to get off the streets and shut up the bazaars because, in the words of one: “We are going to fight the Americans here.” To the soldiers’ amazement, the Taleban kept up the battle for 12 hours, despite heavy bombardment from aircraft and helicopter gunships raining down artillery on them. “They fought for six or seven hours of airstrikes,” Sergeant Smith said, recalling how the fighters used AK47s and rocket-propelled grenades to try to shoot down the aircraft, hitting two Chinooks and a Black Hawk. “I’ve never seen them so aggressive. It was like Braveheart. They really believe they can shoot them down.” The 76 Taleban fighters killed that day were almost all aged 18-22, the backbone of the resurgent Taleban army. American intelligence officers say that the young men are recruited either from villages inside Afghanistan and then taken over the border to Pakistan for training, or they are Afghan refugees signed up in their madrassas in Pakistani towns such as Quetta, where senior Taleban openly walk the streets. They believe that the young men were mostly recruited before winter and trained in time for the spring offensive. But after the battle at Gazek Kula an Afghan informer told the Americans that the Taleban commander who had led that attack had already replenished his depleted troops with recruits from over the border, suggesting a constant flow of fresh blood. Major Doug Vincent is not surprised. “We’ve killed a bunch of people and that has meant they’ve had to bring in new people,” he said. “But there are new guys coming out of the madrassas all the time.” That the fight is such an unequal one seems not to bother the fervent young fighters. While their leaders’ aim may be to keep trying to chip away at the Americans with a thousand small cuts, the fighters seem happy just to be in the battle. American forces recovered a diary from a Taleban fighter in his late teens with the entry: “This is the beginning of my jihad,” followed by a verse from the Koran praising a holy warrior’s effort as more important than its result. The young man was killed after shooting at an entire platoon from the back of a motorbike. US Commanders say that their aim is no less than to wipe the Taleban from the map by killing all their fighters. But they know that brains behind the insurgency are elsewhere. Sergeant Smith said: “The ones we kill are just the grunts. The leaders aren’t out there pulling triggers.” That so many are safely out of reach in Pakistani territory, where American troops cannot venture, is a source of frustration for those in the fight, whatever their political leaders might say. “Musharraf says ‘I’m doing a very good job’. Bull**** he is,” spat Sergeant Chris Holbrooke, who was wounded in the battle at Gazek Kula and has been recommended for a decoration. “The border is totally porous. It’s evident that Pakistan doesn’t care about solving the problem. We’d be more than happy to go drop some bombs on their madrassas if they can’t sort it.” But this is not an option. Instead the Americans have to take the fight to the Taleban inside Afghan territory, scouring the jagged mountain terrain, chasing leads on where Taleban fighters may be meeting amd visiting remote villages to try to persuade people to give them information and not support the rebels. One night last week, Chosen Company set out for a moonlight drive along a rocky riverbed to raid a house where a cell of roadside bomb-makers were believed to be sheltering. As dawn broke they fanned out across the hills to surround the mud walled compound. But when they got there the Taleban were nowhere to be seen. Questioned by American troops, the villagers denied having seen the rebels in the past few weeks. This usually meant that the Taleban had just left, Captain Eric Gardner said. “They always say they haven’t seen them, but that’s understandable. If the Taleban find out they’ve given us information, they’ll punish them.” It was the same story in another village, Jaldak, where soldiers were following a tip-off about a planned ambush. Lieutenant Tate Jarrow told the villagers who stood silently round: “We know the Taleban have been here before. We have come to protect you and your people from the threat.” The villagers nodded noiselessly then watched the soldiers drive away. Earlier that day, a new battalion from the Afghan National Army had arrived in Zabul province to bolster what is expected to be an even harder fight as the elections draw nearer. In the shadow of the shell-pocked 19th century British fort in Qalat, they marched down the streets to be greeted by the governor before they join the Americans in battle. “Now the enemy is on the march,” the governor told them as they lined up before him. “We have to destroy them.” Their American counterparts hope that they can do just that. “We’ve killed a crap load of them,” Sergeant Smith said. “But it’s like a hydra — you cut off one snake’s head and it grows back again.” Battle toll March 23 US soldiers kill five militants in gun battle, Khost province March 26 4 US tank crew killed in land mine blast June 23 76 Taleban fighters die in clash with US forces in Miana Shin June 28 16 troops die when MH-47D Chinook is shot down near Asadabad July 4-10 3 US Seal team members dead in Kunar July 26 US and Afghan forces kill 40 Taleban militants, Uruzgan province July 28 US and Afghan forces kill three militant fighters near Tirin Kowt July 29 Airborne attack on southern rebel stronghold leaves 76 insurgents dead
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