Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, intercept illegal timber as it is smuggled through the Narang Valley in Konar province, Afghanistan. Donkeys are the primary way that timber smugglers are able to export the timber without detection over the rough terrain of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Konar province, a lush area near the Pakistan border, has in the past been a conduit for illegally smuggled goods from the Korengal Valley into Pakistan. Lately however, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Chosin, have been making a difference against one of the biggest culprits, timber smuggling.

“The enemy funds their operations a number of ways,” said Army Lt. Col. Mark O’Donnell, TF Chosin Commander. “They smuggle illegal gems, opium and timber.”

In the months following the fall of the Taliban, many insurgents fled to Pakistan where they continue to operate and help fund insurgency operations in Afghanistan. Various resources are imported across the border which fund weapons for enemy groups operating in Afghanistan.

The timber is mainly used for expensive, ornate furniture, produced exclusively in Pakistan.

Prior to the arrival of TF Chosin, the smuggling was a practically untouched practice, said officials in the battalion.

“Mostly the units before us did not have the troop strength that we have to combat the problem,” said O’Donnell.

Although drug and gem smuggling are both lucrative ways for the enemy to fund insurgency, timber smuggling is even more lucrative.

Most of the timber comes through the Korengal valley and is then moved down the Konar River to strategic points. It is picked up by trucks and then moved up the Narang valley through the mountains into Pakistan.

Although the Pakistan border has various checkpoints that monitor traffic, the border is still porous. Trucks carrying the illegal timber can’t move through the checkpoints, so it is loaded onto the backs of donkeys and transported across the rough border terrain.

TF Chosin’s un-manned surveillance equipment has photographed and recorded the smuggling procedure on various occasions.

“We have plenty of footage,” said Army Capt. Nathaniel Miller, Company D Commander, TF Chosin. “What we’ve observed is a well- oiled process. These guys have been doing this for awhile and have their routine down to a science. Although the procedure may seem primitive, it works, and more lumber than we can imagine has been smuggled over the border in this way.”

Although trucks are used in certain stages of the smuggling, most of the movement is done via the Konar River with pack mules and donkeys.

“The wood is put into the river, where smugglers ride it like a raft to strategic pick-up sites,” said Miller. “The wood is only taken a short distance by truck until it is transferred onto donkeys for the last leg of the route into Pakistan.”

Strategic outposts have been erected by TF Chosin to hinder the timber flow, and they have caused much difficulty for smugglers.

“The outposts have definitely put a dent in the process,” said Miller. “Smugglers go so far with the wood and realize they can’t move with the same ease. They get to that point and simply dump the timber.”

Portions of the Narang Valley have become littered with abandoned illegal timber. The timber is usually confiscated and stored in Asadabad, the largest city near the Narang Valley.

Aside from the visible results, there are other indicators the task force has slowed the illegal trade.

“The price of illegal weapons have doubled,” said Miller. “We are also experiencing more focused attacks on our strategic outposts. The enemy is mad that we are putting a stop to this and are illustrating that through more vicious attacks.”

The illegal timber industry has been operational for years, but with smugglers now having Taliban connections, the involvement of International Security Assistance Force troops has been more evident.

“Currently we have met with all of our local Afghan leaders and all are aware of the problem,” said O’Donnell. “It was actually the governor of Konar that brought the blatant timber smuggling activity to our attention once we got here.”

As it stands, all money that comes from timber smuggling is spent in Pakistan. The only outcome Afghanistan usually sees from the exploitation of its natural resources is a well-armed and relatively well-funded insurgency.

“If Karzai [Afghan President Hamid Karzai] can turn this around and capitalize on the industry, it would not only bring more money to the country, but the cutting could be standardized and the resources protected. Right now, with no regulations, the Korengal’s timber could be in danger of being over-cut.”

Although many steps must be taken before the problem is solved, the troops of TF Chosin will continue to respond when called upon.

“Until Afghan officials can get a hold on how to fix this, we’ll fix it the best we know how,” said O’Donnell. “And that’s with strategic operations. In the future, hopefully things will be different, but for now we will handle the problem as it is.”

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Amber Robinson

Raziqullah laid motionless on the green stretcher as blood oozed across his forehead, dripping onto the floor of Forward Operating Base Blessing’s aid station.

Army Maj. Durren Hightower, a physician’s assistant, looked up from the massive head wound that exposed the 15-year-old boy’s brain, and sighed, “You know he isn’t going to have a good outcome, right?”

One of the medics, fighting to keep the boy breathing by pumping oxygen into his lungs, replied quietly, “Yes sir.”

Raziqullah, a shepherd, who like many Afghans has only one name, left home early on the morning of April 23 to tend to his flock in the mountains around his village of Gosalak. His family found him hours later at the mountain’s rocky bottom. He had fallen.

The boy’s two uncles rushed him from his tiny village to FOB Blessing, an American military outpost manned by Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in the remote Konar province of Afghanistan.

“The call came in over the radio that we had an Afghan boy at the front gate with a head injury, so our medics rushed down there,” said Maj. Paresh R. Patel, the aid station’s physician. “It was bad.”
According to Patel, the tiny aid station sees levels of trauma like this almost weekly. Local villagers flock to the aid station seeking Western medical treatment they can’t normally get from their local clinics.

As they rushed Raziqullah to one of aid station’s two stretchers, the medical personnel immediately began surveying the unconscious child, his small bruised frame covered in blood.

“What happened?” one of them cried to the interpreter.

“He fell off a mountain,” the interpreter replied.

Raziqullah’s breathing was failing, he was fading quickly. The Soldiers placed an oxygen tube in the boy’s throat, which became his lifeline.

Racing against time, the doctors and medics pumped Raziqullah’s body with medication and treated his wounds, using an ultrasound to check for internal injuries.

Hightower looked at the boys crushed skull with worry.

“This sucks,” said Army Spc. Jeremy Shepler, combat medic, shaking his head in concern as he pumped oxygen into the boy’s lungs.

A fellow medic looked up from Raziqullah and frowned. “Yeah,” he said.

After two hours of fighting to keep the boy alive, Patel called for his interpreter, “We need to go talk to the family,” he said. His face was grim.

With tears streaming down the face of one of the boy’s two uncles, Patel explained that Raziqullah was brain dead, and was kept alive only by the breathing tube that pumped oxygen into his lungs. “What do you want to do?” he asked them.

The young shepherd’s uncles had to make a difficult decision.

Finally they asked to have their nephew’s breathing tube removed.

A Muslim chaplin from the Afghan national army was called to the aid station to pray for Raziqullah, as the two uncles grieved for their fading nephew.

Less than 10 minutes later, Raziqullah died.

His body was wrapped in a white shawl, with strings tied around his toes and chin according to Muslim tradition, and then his family took him home to be buried.

“In the States, you would have a less than 5 percent survivability rate for this type of injury,” said Shepler. “Here it’s almost nonexistent…All we can do is try every time.”

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Matthew C. Moeller

Afghan and coalition forces killed five militants and detained 12 suspects during early morning operations to disrupt bomb-making and facilitation networks in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

In Zharmi District, Kandahar province, approximately 30 kilometers southwest of Kandahar city, Afghan and coalition forces conducted a complex operation after receiving a tip on the location of Taliban operatives connected to bomb-making and other nefarious activities, including operating a checkpoint in Zharmi District to collect money from local citizens.

When the assault force attempted to search several compounds in the targeted village, they encountered armed militants who did not comply with instructions to leave their buildings. Two men were killed when forces entered the building they would not leave and the men attempted to engage the force with small arms fire. Similarly, on three separate compounds, three other men refused to comply with instructions given by Afghan and coalition forces and were killed in a subsequent engagement.

Without further incident, Afghan and coalition forces searched the remaining compounds, detaining 10 suspects. Despite the careless actions of the militants who needlessly endangered the lives of civilians, forces protected approximately 100 adults and more than 50 children.

In a separate operation in Sarkani (Sirkanay) District, Konar province, approximately 60 kilometers northeast of Jalalabad, Afghan forces with a small element of coalition forces in support, patrolled to a compound where suspected al-Qaida operatives were located. Without incident, forces searched the compound, detaining two suspects associated with attacks against coalition forces in Konar province.

Two women and eight children were protected and forces did not fire any shots.

DVIDS

Eighteen insurgents were killed during a pre-emptive defensive strike by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Konar province on the evening of April 10.

ISAF service members were on patrol throughout the day along a known insurgent infiltration route in the Pech District. The force then established a patrol base and deployed out an observation team.

Approximately 26 insurgents with weapons and lights walked within six feet of the observers, giving the patrol positive identification of the group.

As the group of insurgents moved toward the patrol, the observers radioed back to the patrol base. The patrol leader then repositioned his personnel to engage the militants.

After the initial fire fight, close-air support and attack helicopters were called to support the ground forces.

Following the engagement, the platoon collected enemy supplies including 10 AK-47s, Rocket-propelled grenade launchers with ammunition, five radios and two hand grenades.

The incident resulted in no civilian or ISAF casualties.

ISAF