Scouting the lay of the land

Scouting the lay of the land
Soldiers explore, map area in Paktia province to gain upper hand against Taliban
Story and photos by James Warden, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, May 7, 2009

PAKTIA PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN — The Cav scouts were expectant as they approached the village of Mohammed Kheyl. They stopped short of the valley where the village sat and made sure all the supplies they intended to drop off were in order. Like good neighbors, they’d walk in and ask permission to bring in their vehicles.

Troop B, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment had set out the day before with a plan to recon a suitable route and establish a patrol base, then visit nearby villages the following day.

But to the soldiers’ disappointment, the small cluster of hilltop homes charitably called a village didn’t quite meet expectations. No one was in the main group of buildings that had clearly been unoccupied for some time. The soldiers waved over a man living in a home on a nearby hill, and after he trudged over, he explained that he’d just arrived with his family five days before and was the only one there at the moment.

"All these places you see, they actually have owners," he said, explaining that the village was only a seasonal community. "In about five or six days, you’ll see all these areas occupied."

The soldiers spend much of their time exploring areas such as Mohammed Kheyl never knowing what they’ll find. The unit took over a small combat outpost, COP Deysie, three months ago. The limited American presence in the area has forced the unit to spend much of its time just getting to know the area — a process that many of the extra units soon coming to Afghanistan will likely find themselves doing as well.

President Barack Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, and many will be entering areas as the first sustained presence of foreign troops.

Not much intel

The unit that was here before the 1/40’s arrival built COP Deysie in November after an Afghan commander picked it as a good spot to guard a key pass on the main road between Gardez and the city of Khost.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Mueller, a Troop B platoon sergeant, said it’s still not clear what tactical significance Deysie will have. The area around the outpost was once a popular ambush site — Deysie is named for a soldier killed in one such attack. But the previous unit moved in after the insurgents’ traditional fighting season concluded, and soldiers don’t know yet how insurgents will respond to the new base.

The same weather that prevented insurgent attacks made it hard for U.S. soldiers to move over terrain that is difficult at the best of times. Skies have only recently cleared enough for troops to explore the area more thoroughly. While soldiers wait to see what effect the new base has, they are trying to learn as much about their area as they can.

"We like to do intelligence-driven operations, but there’s not a lot of intel on my AO [area of operations]," said Capt. Gary McDonald, the Troop B commander.

Most of the outlying areas haven’t had any American presence for at least a year, and perhaps much longer. First Lt. Kevin Harris, a Troop B platoon leader, said the platoons now are just picking areas where no one has been and visiting them to develop a presence in these neglected areas.

The little the Americans do know about the area isn’t always good. McDonald suspects that enemy fighters use the rural areas just off the road as passageways for attacks. A man the soldiers talked to in one village said that Taliban soldiers did indeed pass through.

‘Making me nervous’

"They’re like genies; they appear in vehicles and then they disappear," the villager said. "I’m a very honest guy — I would not lie to you — but your presence is making me nervous here."

The unit has had to start from scratch in gathering information. Military intelligence soldiers who arrived with Troop B didn’t receive a group of cultivated sources from their predecessors, as do most new units. Leaders are still trying to determine exactly which variety of insurgents use the area — disgruntled locals who didn’t win lucrative contracts, full-blown Taliban or some other extremist group.

Geographic information is almost equally vague. Maps of the area date to the 1980s. The lone man in Mohammed Kheyl called the area Suratai, although he conceded that a group of huts could be called Mohammed Kheyl.

Roads are perhaps the biggest hurdle. Erosion, neglected irrigation networks and decades of war have turned once usable roads into goat trails. Soldiers use all their scouting skills to map out which roads they can use and which roads they can’t. A platoon can spend days trying to determine which roads lead from one valley to another. Troop B had extra fuel airdropped into its patrol base during last weekend’s three-day mission so the soldiers could continue exploring the area.

But McDonald said the time is well spent because the smallest details can help Troop B disrupt insurgent cells.

Knowing where enemy fighters must stop for water or what houses they can bed down in can help soldiers track them down. Knowing which roads lead into a valley can help leaders vet sources who say enemy fighters are using trucks to enter an area.

In an area as unexplored as this one, even a tiny village can provide crucial information.