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

Over the past three months the Provisional Reconstruction Team in Wardak Province has provided almost 33,000 tons of food to the people of Wardak. This assistance, which was targeted at the most vulnerable groups, will be used to prepare the people for the upcoming winter.

Besides food, the PRT provided 1,300 wool blankets, 900 sheets of plastic and 400 stoves. They also distributed 9,500 items of clothing.

Non-food humanitarian aid included 1,900 boxes of medicine, and other medical supplies and healthcare products.

Wardak is one of the poorer provinces in Afghanistan, with very few commercial activities. Almost all their revenue derives from agriculture and remittances from elsewhere. Wardak has been severely affected by the drought over the past years.

The PRT has provided significant contributions of food and health care and have ongoing humanitarian programmes in place to assist the people of Wardak Province.

The PRT continues to assess the humanitarian needs of the people and also help the local administrators with emergency coordination work. They are also encouraging the international relief agencies to start implementing substantial and direct humanitarian aid programmes in Wardak, and developing relations with the local government and leaders of the local communities.

ISAF

ISAF killed 10 insurgents September 14 near the Kandahar-Kabul highway in Sayed Abad district, Wardak.

Soldiers from Task Force Currahee responded to a rocket attack on a nearby base with artillery and close air support. After positive identification of the insurgents, aircraft engaged the insurgents with gunfire.

ISAF

Several Militants Killed in Maruf District, Kandahar province

Afghan national security forces and coalition forces killed several militants during a security patrol in Maruf District, Kandahar province, Monday [July 21 2008].

Militants attacked the patrol with small-arms fire and rocket propelled grenades from a fortified position.

ANSF and coalition forces returned small-arms fire and called for close air support. Several militants were killed and the position was destroyed.

No ANSF, coalition forces or civilians were killed or injured during this engagement.

ANSF, Coalition Forces Kill Militants in Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar province

Afghan national security forces and coalition forces killed militants while on a security patrol in Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar province, Monday [July 21 2008].

ANSF and coalition forces positively identified militants with weapons massing along a ridgeline and moving into fortified fighting positions.

The ANSF and coalition forces engaged them with small-arms fire and called for close air support, killing the militants.

No ANSF, coalition forces or civilians were injured or killed during the engagement.

Militants Killed in Wardak Province

Several militants were killed Tuesday [July 22 2008] during a coalition forces operation to disrupt militant activities in Wardak province.

Coalition forces searched several compounds in Sayed Abad District targeting a Taliban commander suspected of conducting attacks on coalition forces, including the, June 26, attack in Wardak resulting in the deaths of three coalition service members and an Afghan Interpreter.

The anti-Afghan forces attacked the coalition forces with grenades, machineguns and small-arms fire from a house where they were barricaded. Coalition forces returned fire using small-arms, grenades and an airstrike, ultimately killing the militants.

A targeted militant was killed and two militants were detained Monday during a Coalition forces operation to disrupt Taliban operations in Wardak province.

Coalition forces searched several compounds in Sayad Abad District targeting a militant leader that has smuggle munitions and conduct IED attacks against Afghan and Coalition forces in the area.

During the course of the operation, the targeted militant, armed with a pistol, threatened the force and was killed with small-arms fire.

Coalition forces identified several militants maneuvering against them in a wooded area and responded with air strikes.

Coalition forces discovered and confiscated a cache of weapons, grenades, ammunition and a vehicle being used for Taliban operations.

CJTF-101