[Peace-discuss] Battle of Kabul (one of a series)

[C. G. Estabrook]

	US repels Taliban from the gates of Kabul
  	By Ben Farmer in the Jalrez Valley, Afghanistan
	Last Updated: 1:05AM GMT 27 Mar 2009

If the soldiers scanning Afghanistan's mountain slopes from behind the sandbags 
of Fort Apache feel they are being watched, they are probably right.

The area around their remote outpost, dominated by the snowy peaks of the Jalrez 
Valley, was an almost uncontested sanctuary for Taliban insurgents at the gates 
of Kabul just months ago.

They used Wardak province and its mountain passes as a base for attacks around 
the capital, tightening a noose around President Hamid Karzai's government.

But the Jalrez Valley is now among the first beneficiaries of a "surge" of new 
American troops. Some 3,500 soldiers of the US Army's 10th Mountain Division 
have been deployed across Wardak and neighbouring Logar province on Kabul's 
southern flank. Linked to their arrival are attempts to win over village leaders 
and, controversially, recruit fighters as local defence volunteers.

Success here could see the American-led coalition adopt similar tactics across 
the country. Failure would be a major blow to President Barack Obama's entire 
Afghan strategy.

"This time last summer the perception was, whether it be real or just a 
perception, that the enemy was at the gates of Kabul," said Lt-Col Kimo Gallahue.

"The enemy was using Wardak province to achieve effects in Kabul. Being that 
near to the capital city, being able to use that as a launch point for attacks, 
to have sanctuary if you will that close to Kabul, is significant."

The arrival of the 10th Mountain Division has increased the number of US troops 
in the province tenfold.

Embattled outposts which housed a platoon of 30 last summer now hold three or 
four times as many soldiers. Afghanistan's problems cannot be addressed by force 
alone, but security must come first, said Lt-Col Gallahue. "Without security you 
don't get good governance, you don't get economic development, you don't get 
infrastructure development," he added.

Wardak is not only important to the coalition. Mullah Mohammed Omar, the 
fugitive leader of the Taliban, is reported to have ordered its capture. Only 25 
minutes drive from Kabul, the province has also drawn fighters from the 
fundamentalist warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

"I think they would like to have what they had last year. To get back and even 
more," said Lt-Col Gallahue.

But the most recent attacks appear to show the insurgents are poorly trained. In 
one incident, they proved almost unable to hit a US outpost with gunfire, 
succeeding only in peppering the compound walls. A roadside bomb exploded after 
its target had passed, while a rocket attack fell a mile short.

However, the insurgents have inflicted casualties, killing two Afghan policemen 
with a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the provincial capital of Maydan Shahr.

At the outpost they style "Fort Apache", soldiers who face months without 
showers or hot food predict their base will be "like the Alamo" when the 
fighting season starts in earnest in a few weeks.

"The majority of villages are just on the fence right now, trying to see with 
the influx of troops whether we will prevail," said Lt Kyle Hooten, 25, from 
Indiana.

"We have found a couple of towns that openly support the Taliban, who say we 
will be in trouble when the weather warms up."

Commanders believe they have a chance to turn the population against the 
insurgents. Local councils of turbaned elders are being asked to draw up 
projects for roads, schools and agriculture.

Lt-Col Michael Gabel, who leads the work with local villagers, said that 
detaching low-level insurgents was the key to success.

"Ultimately your enemies have to become at least your co-workers if this is 
going to stop," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5054906/US-repels-Taliban-from-the-gates-of-Kabul.html