Crossroads of Afghanistan-Contested province is vital link

Photo By Sgt. Stephen Decatur | Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lindsay of Company A, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry...... read more read more

Photo By Sgt. Stephen Decatur | Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lindsay of Company A, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Fury), 82nd Airborne Division communicates on his radio during a combined patrol with the Afghan National Army Sept. 28 near Shajoy, Zabul province, Afghanistan.  see less | View Image Page

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

11.06.2009

Story by Sgt. Stephen Decatur 

4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

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The group began to climb down a dry river bed, called a wadi.

"Is that thing really that deep?" the platoon sergeant said.

Inside the wadi an Afghan officer told the platoon sergeant that the previous ANA Kandak stationed in the area had been ambushed in that same spot.

"We need to get out of here," the platoon sergeant said. "This is a very bad place."

One by one the platoon sergeant helped Afghan and American Soldiers alike across the wadi, and the patrol continued.

If you drive down Highway 1 through Afghanistan's Zabul province, it might look like there's nowhere to hide from the Baba Mountains in the southwest all the way to the Hindu Kush in the northeast. Looks can be deceiving. Orchards, mud brick walls, deeply tilled gardens, wadis and waist high vegetation create a maze of chokepoints and hiding places.

The 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Fury), 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Zabul late this summer to advise and assist the 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps of the Afghan national Army in providing security for the province.

Zabul is a crossroads. Highway 1 is the only paved road that links Kabul and the eastern provinces to Kandahar and the southern provinces, while the Taliban use the rugged terrain to slip through the province on their way between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Zabul is known right now as a transit point," said Lt. Col. David Oclander, commander of 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Fury), 82nd Airborne Division. "To the Taliban, Zabul has always been absolutely critical," Oclander said.

Zabul was the last province to fall to the mujahedeen and Coalition Forces in 2002 and the first to see the reemergence of the Taliban in 2005. There is an 11 percent literacy rate in the province, with only about 70 working schools in the entire province.

Because 90 percent of the population lives in remote locations and relies on subsistence farming, there are very few opportunities for people in the province, Oclander said.

"It lends itself to the rise of an insurgency and the rise of a radical ideology," Oclander said.

In a recent shura, a traditional assembly of decision makers, community leaders from the Shajoy district met with Afghan and American commanders to discuss their concerns.

Some village elders expressed their concern that their communities could become battlefields because the Taliban use their towns as rest stops and hiding places.

Others told the ANA representative that the Taliban were threatening university students who came back on break from school that if they didn't pay extortionate sums of money to return to school they would either have to stay home or face violence.

Several of the village leaders pointed out that many others who were invited to the Shura did not attend due to Taliban intimidation.

"As soon as they see a clear winner they will make a choice," Oclander said. "Security is the main thing that will win people over."

Before the recent arrival of additional coalition forces there were only a few hundred International Security Assistance Force personnel, Oclander said. In several cases TF Fury Paratroopers have replaced embedded training teams small enough to count on one or two hands with entire infantry platoons in remote Afghan National Army bases.

In addition to the Paratroopers, the province has also received another battalion from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and a contingent from the Romanian army.

"Hopefully the greater resources will translate to a larger, more complete mentor mission," said Staff Sgt. Jonathan Taylor, an Army Reserve medic who was one of the last members of the Embedded Training Team Venom to leave Zabul. The 13 man team has been replaced by an entire infantry company.

Though small in numbers, the embedded training teams laid the foundation for the incoming coalition forces by establishing a positive relationship with the local Afghan Soldiers.

"My Soldiers know that our advisors are here to help," said Maj. Mohammed Ahmin, executive officer of the 3rd Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps. "When we go together on missions we are comrades."

Several nights later the Afghan Soldiers are on patrol again. The night before, two insurgents had been killed by their own explosives while attempting to plant a roadside bomb. As the allies approached the wadi they had reconnoitered earlier, loud explosions and distant gunfire broke out behind them.

Afghan and American Soldiers alike instinctively faced out and pulled security while the platoon sergeant called higher headquarters on his radio. The gunfire became more sporadic and finally stopped. A group of Romanian Soldiers had come under attack further down Highway 1. As the patrol continued along its route, helicopters could be heard hovering overhead. The same dog tagged along, loyal as ever.