Army Staff Sgt. Robert Rios, right, and Pfc. Michael Halter, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, lead a patrol down during a village assessment in the Jalrez Valley of Afghanistan’s Wardak province, March 12, 2009. This was the troops’ first stop in the village as they worked their way out from the nearby combat outpost Apache. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III

Next to a small village in Afghanistan’s fertile Jalrez Valley, a platoon of U.S. soldiers busy themselves fortifying a fighting position, stringing concertina wire, aiming mortars, and filling lots and lots of sand bags.

“Apache,” a U.S. military combat outpost, is housed in an abandoned former district agricultural building. It is flanked by a school and medical clinic on its east. Villagers tend to an orchard that runs along its west side, and to the north a handful of farmers care for cattle and crops.

It seems an unlikely spot for coalition forces to go toe-to-toe with the Taliban and other enemy fighters who use this valley for staging attacks in nearby areas, such as the capital city of Kabul. But the outpost is the front line in a fight against an enemy that hides among the local population in the villages and in the mountains.

Pushing troops out of larger forward operating bases and into community-based combat outposts was successful in Iraq for holding areas cleared of enemy forces. It is this same strategy that military officials in Afghanistan’s Wardak province hope will quash enemy activity in one of the country’s most dangerous valleys.

“Our presence alone is the security,” said Army Capt. Matthew Thom, commander of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment. “I believe that since we’re here … our permanent presence is going to prevent that kinetic activity.”

Adding Firepower
The 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team has more than tripled the firepower here since taking over operations in Wardak and Logar provinces last month. It has doubled the number of combat outposts to six in Wardak.

Before, only a company patrolled an area where two battalion-sized task forces now operate. Everything about the troop’s presence here projects power, and that is exactly the message military officials want to send to the enemy fighters expected to return to the area as the weather warms.

“I am fully confident that they would be foolish to attack us,” Thom said. “Nobody wants that, but I feel that we are postured according to the threat level very well. I believe that our posture alone is going to prevent that from happening.”

Thom’s troops landed, literally, in the valley about a month ago, in an air assault mission that many of the soldiers described as the most difficult of their careers. In the bitter-cold, early morning hours, the infantry troops launched with full combat packs from hovering helicopters into waist-deep snow and began a five-mile trek to what is now their outpost.

Home, Sweet Home
The mud building that would become their home was abandoned and cold. There was no electricity or water. Like most outposts here, conditions are, to say the least, austere, especially at the start. The troops themselves build up the outposts, securing them first, and then adding comforts such as heat.

There is no running water and no cold storage, which means no cooked meals and no showers. Troops suffice with heated, packaged Army meals and keep clean with “lots and lots of baby wipes.”

But, for the most part, the infantry soldiers are happy. It’s not a bad life as far as infantry goes, they said. There is a roof over their heads, and they are not sleeping on the ground. Mail is delivered fairly regularly, and soldiers rely on comfort items sent from home. Conditions are better now that during the unit’s first deployment to Afghanistan a few years ago, the unit’s veterans said. One platoon sergeant went four months without a shower then, he said.

“Life is good,” Thom said. “This is definitely not Bagram [Airfield], but I really don’t want it to be that. We have what we need to do our jobs, and too much more becomes a distraction. We stay really busy.”

Geography and Security
Security is provided from three outposts along the Jalrez Valley, which stretches west about 15 miles from the provincial capital of Maydan Shahr. About 70 small villages are scattered through the valley, with multiple tribes in each.

Thom divides the responsibility for the villages between platoons, and military leaders spend their days patrolling, meeting with tribal leaders and assessing villages’ needs.

The U.S. troops bring with them much-needed funds for construction and renovations. But still, some in the area are wary that the troop’s presence will draw more fighting to the valley, and that their families and livelihoods could be caught in the crossfire.

“When we come here, we kind of bring a sense of war with [us],” Thom acknowledged. “There is some skepticism, but I believe the better part of the population is happy we’re here.”

The commander’s fight in the valley demonstrates the evolution of the traditional infantry role. Once focused primarily on operations surrounding killing or capturing the enemy, now Thom and his troops find themselves at the tip of the spear in what he called a true counterinsurgency fight. The soldiers spend less of their time looking for the enemy and more time befriending the local people in an effort to drive a wedge between those who support an insurgency and those who don’t.

“Now we have to be dual-hatted. We have to have that ability to conduct kinetic operations and counterinsurgency operations, and that’s what we do,” Thom said. “We knew coming into this country there was a kinetic threat, but we were going to beat the kinetic threat with the counterinsurgency fight.”

Army Spc. Daniel Camino, left, and Staff Sgt. Cody Collins, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, stop a local boy riding his donkey near a meeting with local leaders in Afghanistan's Jalrez Valley, Wardak province, March 12, 2009. The patrol secures the area for the meeting and is watchful of attacks in one of the most dangerous valleys in the province.

Meet and Greet
Patrols are focused around assessing villages and meeting local leaders. Military officers mentor district government leaders and help them strengthen their local support. And millions of dollars in Commanders’ Emergency Response Program funds are funneled into local projects such as repairing wells, refurbishing schools and building roads.

And for their efforts, the troops hope the local people will point out anyone in their villages who would threaten the security in the area.

But Army 1st Lt. Mark Hogan, a Company A platoon leader, said the soldiers don’t dangle dollars for projects over the heads of the tribal leaders in exchange for intelligence.

“I can help them, and if they become our friends, they want to give us information. It helps us help them,” Hogan said. “The concern is their security. My guys are going to be able to secure themselves. Them giving us information is for their own safety.”

Precision Is Key
Hogan said that if local residents deliver up the names and locations of enemy fighters operating in the area, U.S. and Afghan forces can be more strategic about removing them from the local population. One military officer referred to the precise operations as “surgical.”

Hogan said this allows his forces to strike first, using less firepower and with safety measures in place to protect civilians.

The platoon leader acknowledges that is the delicate balance he must strike operating within a civilian population. One wrong move, or misplaced mortar, and Hogan jeopardizes alienating the population he is trying win over and knocking the legs out from under coalition counterinsurgency efforts.

The U.S. forces operating before in this valley offered a blunt assessment of the threat for Hogan and his forces.

“You don’t come into the valley without fighting your way out,” he said.

But the troops have been there a month now, and so far there have been no attacks. Hogan and the soldiers in his command are hopeful that the increased troop strength may have staved off some attacks. And they are pushing hard to establish roots in the communities so that when the enemy fighters return, they find themselves without the support they enjoyed in previous years.

Still, only time will tell — as the days warm and snow melts on the surrounding hills, and enemy fighters begin to move through the passes — whether Hogan can place stock in the fruits of this different fight.

The young infantry officer, who seven years ago would have been spending his days here engaged much differently, is now not itching for that kind of a fight.

“If we can come here and improve this valley and walk away without firing a shot, the closer the war is to being over,” Hogan said.

DoD
Story and photos by Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Flexing for the first time the massive military muscle now deployed to this area, coalition forces cleared one of its most troubled insurgent hotspots, sending a forceful message to insurgent fighters here that the coalition will go wherever, whenever it wants.

The three-day operation wrapped up yesterday and took hundreds of troops deep into the Tangi, a valley of narrow roads and steep cliffs that runs along the Logar River through the southeastern part of Wardak province opening into Logar province.

The area has seen few coalition forces for the past eight months after a small U.S. military team was brutally attacked and four were killed there last summer.

Shortly after the first few soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team arrived here in February, they sent a little larger than a platoon-sized team into the valley. The troops were blasted by roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and rifle fire. Remarkably, no one on the patrol was killed.

But, only days afterward, two local boys who had talked with coalition leadership during the mission were dragged from their homes and killed. It was a strong-arm attempt to strike fear into the local population, officials said, because the insurgents knew that with the growing U.S presence here, the coalition forces would be back.

Army Lt. Col. Kimo Gallahue is the battalion commander for the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, and runs coalition efforts in Wardak province. He is a tall, sturdy Army Ranger, a combat veteran and well-versed on the threat here. Truth be told, though, Gallahue really doesn’t care what brand of insurgency he is fighting. He just wants them gone.

He had talked to the boys on that first trip.

“That type of action is criminal. It’s murderous. It’s meant for intimidation of the population. So you can see why, when given the alternative of security and better governance, the people want it,” Gallahue said. “This enemy … they can’t win if that’s their alternative, if that’s the future they offer.”

Tangi Valley
The Tangi Valley is a fertile breadbasket in this region. Snow and rain run off the mountains into a valley of apple and pomegranate orchards. Just off of Highway 1, south of Kabul, the valley boasts one of the few paved roads in the region. But, the narrow road and high ridges make it ideal for an insurgent defense. Once entering the valley, there is nowhere to go except deeper in along its winding road flanked by small villages jutting from the hillsides. Vehicles traveling the road are easy targets, and roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices are routinely buried along the 15-kilometer route military officials dubbed “IED Alley.”

This mission was launched by the 10th Mountain Division’s Task Force Spartan, which took control of the Wardak and Logar provinces last month. The task force’s deployment tripled the firepower here, where coalition force officials initially did not predict a serious threat developing. But as more intense fighting began in the eastern part of the country, many insurgents took advantage of the two provinces’ small coalition presence and remote districts.

Pincer Movement
Soldiers from two battalions led the efforts. The 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, which runs coalition operations in the Logar province, moved northwest along the valley road, clearing mostly villages. Gallahue had his battalion’s troops move southeast, clearing the majority of the rural route. The two met near the provincial borders where the 3-71st troops established a permanent coalition force presence in the valley at a combat outpost.

At the start of the operation, U.S. Special Forces troops, along with Afghan military commandos, descended on the valley in an air assault, looking for some key suspects and weapons caches. Throughout, U.S. F-15 aircraft and Apache attack helicopters flew overhead, providing air support.

Afghan Army and French Mentors
Two companies of Afghan national army soldiers, partnered with their French mentoring company, moved side by side with U.S. forces. Afghan national police led the searches of suspects’ homes.

For three days, soldiers cleared the route, walking the road and through the villages and fields. It was slow, tedious work as, step by step, anything found suspicious was reported up the chain, and nobody moved further until any threat was cleared.

“It’s nerve-wracking. You have a lot of things going on at one time,” said Army Staff Sgt. Erik Bonnett, who was in the lead of the dismounted clearing operations for the 2-87th. “The worst part about it was the physical part. Being up this high in altitude with all the gear we wear, it starts to get to you.” The valley sits at just under 8,000 feet above sea level.

He said his troops were looking for “snail trails” or markings on the ground where wires were run. They also looked for fresh tracks or areas where no grass was growing because of digging. They were always on alert for their biggest threat — small-arms fire or rocket-propelled grenades launched from the nearby rooftops or ridgelines.

Troops with bomb-sniffing dogs also walked the road, clearing culverts, rock piles and any cars and trucks passing by. Military vehicles capable of detecting buried electronic devices also helped to clear the route.

It is Bonnett’s fourth deployment to Afghanistan and, even though the days were long and the pace was slow, he realized the gravity of an error on his team’s part.

“If I don’t do my job, the end result is lives are lost,” Bonnett said.

Route Clearing Results
And insurgent fighters did not disappoint. Three bombs were found along the route. It took soldiers nearly a half day to dig out a large propane tank, believed to be filled with explosive, from underneath the road. Once the tank was uncovered, a second wire was found leading from it to where officials believe a second bomb was buried deeper. Rather than take any more time to unearth the second device, officials chose to explode it place and repair the road.

Army 1st Lt. Alvin Cavalier was in the lead in the route-clearing efforts. His truck was hit twice on the February trip through the valley. Cavalier said finding the bombs this time paved the way for future operations there.

“Getting hit the first couple times coming in here, you don’t want that for your guys. Getting in there and digging those IEDs out of the road gave the guys a huge boost of confidence, and we’ll be ready to come back in here next time,” Cavalier said. “This is our battle space. We’re here to clean this place up.”

There were not, however, any direct attacks on the forces this time, which military officials said was a promising sign. Officials attributed it mostly to the fact that they simply had any enemy fighters outgunned.

“We took away the lines that he could attack from,” Gallahue said. “He had to make a decision. Fight and die, or not fight at all.”

Improvements Since February
Forces stopped in each village to talk to the local people. Gallahue and others said that on this trip the villagers were more receptive to coalition forces. Some waved at the convoys, and others milled about in their villages. In February, some soldiers said, nobody was out. They mostly hid in their homes.

Gallahue was optimistic at the start of the trip when he spotted an old man walking down the road.

“That’s a good sign,” he said. If people are out, then the likelihood of an attack is less, he explained. Most know when the enemy fighters plan to strike.

Gallahue is itching to put a combat outpost on his side of the valley, but he has just put in two outposts in the Jalrez Valley, another problem spot in Wardak. There were three such outposts in Wardak when he arrived, and he has already doubled that number.

The commander said that, for the most part, the people in the Tangi are tired of the fighting. They are eager for the security that coalition forces bring.

“There is a certain amount of war-weariness in the population, and they’re ready for security,” he said. “We’re going to go in there and turn that valley around.”

Gallahue called the fight here a “true counterinsurgency,” and said it could not have been accomplished with the few troops that were here before. His province was manned by only a company-sized element before Task Force Spartan took over.
Effective counterinsurgencies are people-intensive, he said.

Two battalion-sized task forces are here. Task Force Catamount is made up of soldiers from the 2-87th Infantry, and Task Force Wolfpack is made up of troops from 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery. Both focus on operations within Wardak province. Catamount focuses on security and economic development, and Wolfpack focuses on strengthening governance in the province.

This weekend’s show of force is likely the first of many for this area as Gallahue and his troops ready for the spring thaw and the anticipated increase in insurgent fighting. So far, they have been busy setting up outposts and meeting with local leaders, hoping to have established roots in the communities by the time the insurgent fighters return.

In the meantime, Gallaghue said, his troops have shown they can travel anywhere within the province to go about the business of separating the people who want peace from those who want to fight.

“This is Wardak province, and I’m responsible for security. … Tangi Valley is part of that, and if we need to go in there we can,” Gallahue said. “We’ll take the physical terrain from the enemy, … and we’ll take the people away, because the people are the prize in this fight.”

DVIDS
Story by Fred Baker