As I walked along the two-foot wide trail on a 75-foot-high cliff I had one question for US Army Captain Aaron Tapalman.  "Exactly how is it that the embedded reporter wound up walking point?"

Operation Nike, an air assault mission to the mountains of Sabari District in northern Khowst province, Afghanistan kicked off 2 A.M. when the soldiers of Bravo Company, a.k.a. Team Viper, loaded up on dual rotar CH-47 helicopters for a twenty minute flight to where no US Soldiers had ever gone before.

Nike, a battalion level operation of the 1-26 Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team/1ID--The Big Red One--was designed "to cause disruption [of] the insurgent support zone" in the western part of the Battalion's area.  The driver of the operation was one month old video from a drone that appeared to show a group of six men suspected of being insurgents from Pakistan driving up a nearly dry mountain river bed to a village that has no name and unloaded what could have been two machine guns before dispersing into the rocky, tree covered mountains.

Team Viper's mission was to work with their Afghan Army partner platoon to clear the village, search for any illegal weapons and engage the village elders to gather information and intelligence.  On the mission Vipers 2nd Platoon would be the main effort, moving through the villages with their ANA counterparts and other attached teams of soldiers like Explosive Ordinance Disposal, military intelligence and Psychological Operations.  First Platoon would provide over-watch security from the ridge lines.  Further down the river canyon, a platoon from Hannibal Company was positioned in armored MATV vehichles controlling access to the road.  At the peak of the mountain was the battalion TAC--a small tactical operations center set up in the field.

Area of Operation Nike and Maday Ghar mountain.  Yellow dot is LZ where Team Viper landed at night.  Red dot is Koshal Kalay, aka the village with no name.  Blue dot is Mundikehla.  Pink dot is the final LZ where we flew out of.

In keeping with military procedure, the villages to be cleared were termed objectives and given code names, in this case Beetle, Bear, Badger, Bison and Bobcat in addition to their local name.  Objective Beetle, the first objective and also the place where the men with machine guns were spotted by the drone, only had a code name because no US or coalition forces had ever been there to ask anyone what the small cluster of houses clinging to the side of the mountain was called.  

To get to Beetle, the Soldiers of Team Viper had to descend 2,000 feet of treacherous terrain ranging from loose shale that collapsed under foot causing rock and soldiers to careen down the side of the mountain to climbing down the boulders of mountain water falls.  By the time they reached Objective Beetle, Operation Nike had 5 soldiers in need of Medical Evacuation.

"Pashtunwali is dead!" Hajji Baraun announced in to the assembled Shura in the village of Zambar.  Pashtunwali being the ancient tribal code of honor and conduct of the Afghan people.  When I heard the english translation from the interpreter, my brain finally caught up with my what eyes had been seeing or, more accurately, not seeing.

For the past three weeks I walked through the villages, mountains and fields of Sabari district in Khowst province with Team Viper, the Bravo Company of the 1-26 Infantry based in the Sabari District of Khowst Province.  I spent most of time with 2nd Platoon which seems to walk everywhere on missions ranging from the routine 6-8 kilometer security patrols to a two-day hike through the mountains to a village no US forces had ever been to.  I had seen a lot of Sabari up close and on foot, but it took the mission to Zambar listening to Hajji Baraun speak to handful of Afghan government officials for me to understand the Sabari and why the Afghan surge has not been as effective as the Iraq troop surge of 2007.

The Mission to Zambar was a part of Operation Maiwan IV, a multi-stage operation by Task Force Duke, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division--The Big Red One--to push units out beyond their normal patrol zones to disrupt enemy activity.  Second platoon drove in armored MATVs to Zambar and then would do an 11 kilometer patrol in the heat of the day.  The drive was the worst part.

"Hey, JD, they're gonna do a controlled det in five," Sergeant Josh Haigood said, looking back at me.  It was about 11 in the morning and we had been crammed up in MATVs and other armored vehicles since 3 A.M.

The route clearance platoon, Aces, which specializes in finding and detonating IEDs had already found a 25 pound bomb buried in the road.  This one was estimated to be 35 pounds.  The greater Zambar Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau sure knows how to make coalition forces feel welcome.

I took the opportunity to film the controlled det as chance to unfold myself from the cramped back seat and stretch my legs.  After a couple hours in an MATV and most armored vehicles the pain of sitting in the most uncomfortable seat ever devised by military industrial complex subsides into a throbbing numbness.  Occasionally soldiers legs are so numb they fall four feet to the ground while trying to climb out the vehicles.  The Soldiers and Sergeants of 2nd Platoon would rather walk.

Below are some snap shots of Afghanistan I took from a Blackhawk helicopter to help you get a feel for the terrain and few other slice of Afghan life shots thrown in.  The op-tempo here is pretty high especially given the land and distances involved.  Most platoons walk everywhere so there is a lot of up and down.  The average patrol covers 10 kilometers and lasts 6-8 hours.

Note the size of the compounds


 The closer you are to a river, the land is irrigated.  The chief crop is wheat, but there is also corn and barley.


 These plots are not being cultivated this year

 The fields are small and most work is done by hand.  There is not enough scale for the farmers to move much beyond subsistence.  Many farmers are sharcroppers or in a cycle of debt to the "land owners."  Who owns the land is a source of conflict throughout Afghanistan.

 




Smaller rivers still have enough water for small plots up against the foothills.




 These are just the foothills, not the real mountains.


The Khowst/Gardez Highway, the main artery of commerce in Khowst province follows the wadi through the mountains.


An example of terraced fields.  It is common for one side of a wadi (river/stream) to be used for fields, the other for housing.






Kholbesat Bazaar.  There are actual shops and stores in the main strip, but the seasonal fresh foods are sold in these stalls rented by the day.  These stalls are down in the river bed.  No one knows why.


The 125cc knock-off of a 1970s Honda.  Probably the most common form of transportation in AFG.  I've seen whole families on one.


Threshing wheat.  The Massey Ferguson is the most common tractor in AFG.  The owner of this thresher travels from village to village.  The Afghan version of a custom harvester.


The tea is always served.


 JD with an Afghan Army radio operator.  The officers, Afghan and US were talking with a group of village elders.


Heading back to the outpost across a freshly harvested wheat field.

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