MATIN, Afghanistan — During a recent foot patrol through this tiny mountainside village along the Pech River Valley, U.S. soldiers talked with the town's elders about building projects to improve living conditions.
Children listening to the discussion suddenly scattered. Moments later, shots rained down from a nearby hilltop. The soldiers took cover in a small cemetery carved out of a hillside and shot at an unseen enemy. Twenty minutes of heavy gunfire ended in silence. The enemy had fled to attack another day.
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Later, Cpl. John Rushing reflected on the dual role that the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment are being asked to fulfill. Every day that they arrive to help villagers, they may be walking into a trap.
"You just have to deal with it," Rushing said. "We can't just take out the whole bunch because of a few bad apples."
In tonight's address to the nation, President Obama is to lay out his strategy to deal with the "bad apples" in Afghanistan on a larger scale and neutralize Taliban militants who ruled Afghanistan until the regime's ouster by U.S. forces in 2001.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has requested 40,000 additional troops to bolster a counterinsurgency effort against the Taliban in which Rushing's troops are engaged. His aim is to deny the Taliban the refuges it uses to launch attacks and terrorize civilians into supporting their cause. He hopes to safeguard villagers, giving Kabul time to bolster its defense forces and elected government.
For Rushing and the rest of his soldiers from the unit based in Colorado Springs, the counterinsurgency campaign is a perilous balance.
The goal is to win villagers' trust and persuade them not to give sanctuary to militants. Though they are welcomed in villages here in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan — bearing blankets and building supplies — they are also being stalked by militants who seek to force the villagers to their side.
Along the Pech River, where a handful of houses constitute a village and Taliban influence runs deep, the culture is not easily changed. Some Afghan officials say U.S. forces fail to understand the mind-set in Kunar province.
"There are people who don't want the Taliban or U.S. forces there," defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said. "But when neither the Afghan government nor the U.S. forces can ensure their safety, they side with the Taliban."
Some soldiers here find the humanitarian aspect of their mission frustrating.
"It's hard because the same people we're giving things away to are the ones shooting at us," said Spc. Casey Akerman, 26, recalling sniper fire during a recent mission to Sundray, a village upriver from Matin, where soldiers have provided much humanitarian assistance.
Lt. Col. Brian Pearl, the battalion commander, said he understands soldiers' frustrations. "We are not going to change the minds of a lot of the fighting generation" of young men, Pearl admitted, noting the pervasive Taliban presence and high unemployment in the province.
"The key is showing village elders we are willing to do something positive for them," he said. "It's all about starting the process of developing trust."
One initiative to help build trust involves handing out blankets, boots and radios to villagers ahead of winter. The troops assume all the responsibility to make sure people receive the aid, though credit is given to the Afghan National Army, which hands out the items.
Pearl said it's important that residents see both U.S. troops and the Afghan army as a trustworthy security force.
"We are trying to establish a level of trust between the (Afghan army) and locals," Pearl said.
These endeavors have paid off, Pearl explained. He pointed to a recent meeting with Sundray elders who asked for the military's assistance after one of their elders was killed by the Taliban.
"We are in a complicated situation," one of the elders, Sham Sher Namiwal, told Pearl during the meeting. "We come here at great risk to our lives."
Namiwal asked the colonel to provide more security. The Sundray elder also requested building materials to repair a mosque, solar street lights — an increasingly common sight along Pech River Road — as well as a small park.
Pearl told Namiwal he would consider his requests, though any assistance was on the condition that Sundray not allow the Taliban to be in the village.
"If we work together on this, we can solve these other problems quickly," Pearl said.
Sorce:usatoday.com
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