Just north of the delta of the Alishang and Alengar river valleys, in the middle of a dozen square miles of green rice paddies, are the home villages of the Katal Kheil sub-tribe.

We drove in MRAPs out of Mehtar Lam on the asphalt highway for a few kilometers, the winding twisty roads of the city giving way to the rural farm villages, then nothing but a ribbon of asphalt cutting through the irrigated fields.  Beyond the rice paddies and irrigated corn fields, the jagged rocky brown of Amber Ghar mountain rose for 2,112 meters at its peak.

The mission was what the military calls a KLE or Key Leader Engagement.  Only military could give such a sterile, functional name to sitting down with the power brokers of a tribe and laying the foundation of a working relationship.

And relationship is the key.

Counter insurgency is not about how many bad guys were killed, it is about how many powerbrokers are on your side--especially the ones who are willing to marginalize if not out right eliminate the bad guys.

The true mission was to find the powerbrokers, the Maliks, talk with them, and begin to build that relationship.  This involves sitting down on the carpet under a tree and drinking tea.

But first you have to hike to the village.

The soldiers and I exited the MRAPs and followed a narrow road too small for even a humvee for three kilometers in the 106 degree heat and humidity from the flooded rice paddies.

Irrigation canals flowed slow, meandering along the road and under the road. 

The boys of Katal show off by doing flips into the irrigation canal.

Deep inside the rice paddies, we reached the heart of the village of Katel.

Kids were everywhere, young men loitered, only a few young girls ventured out, there were no women in sight.

And the dance began.

The Pashtun people of Afghanistan are one of the friendliest and most hospitable people on the planet.

Their hospitality is part of their code of honor, the Pashtoonwali, or Code of the Pathans.

The Pashtoonwali requires that guest be treated with respect, protected, fed, housed and clothed.

When one is under the protection of an honorable Pathan, he is completely safe.

But, that protection can only be granted by the Malik--the headman of the village.

It is often a mistake to assume the Malik or headman is an old man.  The Malik can be young or old and what truely defines him is the wasta or power.  Wasta, an arabic term, is actually understood here in the same context as in Iraq.

And old man, but not the man with the power.

But often in the rural areas, and especially deep in the valleys, outsiders are prevented from making contact with the Malik.

Louis Dupree, in the seminal book 'Afghanistan' describes it as a defense mechanism.  If the Malik is "gone", or cannot be found, then the outsiders, seeing no business can be done, will just leave.

Or, in the alternative, a deputy of the Malik will be brought out.

This technique of evasion has been honed over not just decades or even centuries, but mellenia of outsiders passing through.

And it is LTC Ungerman's role to slowly break through the defense mechanism.

After close to 30 minutes of patience testing circular conversation, we are eventually led to another part of the village, to a nice house, with a late model Toyota 4 Runner parked out back.  The quality of the vehicle is always a clue.

This man may not have been the Malik, but he was close enough for today.

Ungerman and a State Department case officer attached to the PRT sat down on the carpet under the shade of the tree and began to talk Malem Mangel the purported Malik.

Mangel is a handsome sturdy man, with a full head of salt and pepper hair and thick, trimmed beard.

The conversation moves slow, chit chat, small talk about the village and tribe, then slowly moves to business--security, presence of Anti-Afghan Forces (AAF) and eventually projects like micro-hydro, dry and cold storage for harvested grain and the up coming elections.

Air Force Lt. Colonel Ben Ungerman.

One of the main projects for the Alingar and Alishang river valleys is dry and cold storage and food processing.

The well irrigated and fertile valley producers more than enough for the local residents, but all of Afghanistan lacks storage and processing capacity.  At harvest time, the prices for commodities drop and the raw product is shipped to Iran, Pakistan or India where it is stored and processed and then sold back to Afghanis at a profit.

Mangel immediately grasped the value of storage.  The Maliks are also the business agents for the tribe.

The only security threat was from the Gularamis, a hill people who live in the rugged ravines of the Amber Ghar mountain and though not specifically Taliban, are tied into a set of AAF.

The tea is brought out, the conversation continues.  Ungerman and Mangel exchange phone numbers.

The terrain of counter insurgency is not only physical, it is human.

LTC Scott Cunningham, commander of Task Force Wildhorse says, if you have to get out and map the human terrain, and you can't do it behind three inches of armor and ballistic glass from an MRAP.

"If you are not on your feet, you are not really patrolling.  If you not patrolling effectively, you might as well be on the FOB.  And if you never leave the FOB, might as well not be in Afghanistan."

And so everyday the Soldiers and Airmen of Wildhorse and the PRT go out on their feet.

Task Force Wildhorse was not left with much of a map of the human terrain from the previous units.  I have a sinking feeling the previous units patrolled from behind three inches of armor and ballistic glass.

So, Ungerman, Cunningham and company are drawing it themselves, one cup of tea at time.

Self photo of JD, as LTC Ungerman and crew slowly suss out who the Malik is

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