Convoy Ops Through the K-G Pass

On 21 April we joined a joint convoy of US Military Police and Afghan Uniformed Police on a three-hour, 38 kilometer trip in and out of the famous Khowst-Gardez Pass. The pass transverses part of the White Mountains and links two key eastern provinces. (Pictured: a member of our convoy, Specialist Lovenburg, in the K-G Pass.)

It is a trecherous road in places, closed by frequent landslides and unstable, narrow roadbeds. Despite the climb - it rises to almost 10,000 feet at the top - it is a major route for goods entering the country from Pakistan, exports, and inter-province trade in food products, firewood, and people.

Most goods are moved by "jingle trucks" - colorfully decorated, dilapidated vehicles that haul enormous loads across the pass. With bald tires and problematic mechanical condition, one wonders how they make it at all. (Pictured: one of the many jingle trucks that squeezed past our MRAP on the unpaved and extremely narrow mountain road.)

While slowly creeping along a narrow roadway with a steep cliff on one side and a thousand-foot drop into a mountain river on the other, frequent caravans of Kochi nomads pass casually along, tending herds of sheep and goats, hustling loaded donkeys, or steering camels with children and livestock too small to make the walk tied securely to their packs. Little boys ride the top of the hump in colorful garb.

The mission was to accompany AUP leadership to major sites along the pass, including Waza Zadran and Shwak, two large police encampments, and two smaller, permanent traffic check points.

Along the way we also made a brief stop at Combat Outpost Wilderness, a Coalition base camp where elements of the 92nd MP Company keep a permanant presence.

LTC Duane Miller, commander of the 95th MP Battalion, and his Command Sergeant Major Henry Stearns were along for the trip, accompanying Afghan Police General Farar on the inspection.

The convoy of several MRAP armored vehicles was joined in Gardez by a handful of hunter green AUP Ford Ranger trucks, all with RPK machine guns mounted in the bed. Since Taliban presence in the pass is a given, everyone was on the alert. The necessity of takng the same route out as into the pass - there is no alternative road - increased the danger of IED or ambush.

The AUP general is a pro-active leader. He questioned subordinates about missions, care and feeding of soldiers, and maintenance of grounds and vehicles.

At the two major stations he did not see or hear what was up to his standards and promptly relieved the commanders, instructing them to turn over their stations to the men he was sending to replace them. (Pictured: Afghan soldiers standing by while listening to the General first chew out and then dismiss their supervising officer.)

Colonel Miller and CSM Stearns have high regard for the general and support his actions. This convoy was the first time that both US and AUP forces have engaged in a joint operation of this type. "We're going to do a lot more of this kind of thing," Miller said, obviously pleased with the results.

Unlike units such as Special Forces that have much more aggressive operational tempo, Military Police operate on the need to have AUP forces take the lead and the initiative.

"Until they realize how effective these kinds of operations are and develop the confidence to do them on their own, they will always depend on us. We are doing everything we can to encourage their confidence and independence," Miller said.

There are some heart-stopping moments in transiting the K-G Pass, even without someone shooting at you. The views, while occasionally terrifying, are stunning.

A universal comment from Soldiers and writers alike was that "this is what we expected to see when we came to Afghanistan." (Pictured: US Soldiers and their Afghan counterparts inspecting a lookout bunker far above the main Waza Zadran facility.)

Soaring peaks, rising toward the east and north eventually become the Himalayas. In the near distance, the Pakistan border sits, generally ignored by the Pashtu tribesmen who occupy both sides.

Now that spring is in the air, the valleys are greening up splendidly, making the terrain softer and more visually appealing than the stark desolation of the tail end of winter.

Fast-moving water flows through the steep valleys and draws; small, hand-tilled fields are sprouting, and new lambs and kids play on the mountain sides.

This idlyic picture is darkened by the harsh realities of life for an Afghan peasant: farming at the survival level and fearful of roaming Taliban who impose taxes, take young boys, and threaten the lives of any who cooperate with the government.

By extending rule of law through Afghan resources - the Army and Police primarily - the MPs and the Coalition intend to make life more peaceful and relatively prosperous for ordinary people. (Pictured: an Afghan guard mans a roadside checkpoint.)

It is a laudable goal in a land that has rarely known such security.

The Tough Zormat District

Zormat, the city - of sorts - is known from the earliest days of the Taliban as a safe haven for them. The town lies west of Gardez on the route to Gazni, a major trade route and a line of infiltration from Pakistan. Combat Outpost (COP) Zormat dates back to early days of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The COP sits on land that was salted by the Soviets to make it permanently infertile, part of the kind of scorched earth mentality that led them to put tens of millions of land mines in Afghanistan.

In a quirk of geography, the flat upland valley - Zormat sits around 8,000 feet - has a shallow water table. Dig down a foot and you hit water. Consequently living conditions at the COP, primitive as they are, are exacerbated by lack of drainage. Virtually every B-hut has up to a foot of standing, stagnant water under it.

We won't go into the abysmal sewage disposal and other sanitary issues. Suffice it to say that Soldiers at COP Zormat live in conditions that would be considered unacceptable by civilians in the US.

And they are, for the most part, happy to be here. The enemy is nearby and they know that they can make a contribution to the fight.

We visited the local district police station on three occasions, patrolling by foot through the streets of Zormat to the fortified station. The police chief worries that his area of responsibility - which is relatively large - is too big for the few officers he has. He has sent a list of new recruits to province headquarters but processing is slow.

With warmer weather the Taliban are coming out of hiding. Along with them, the chief is concerned about foreigners. Village elders have warned of Chechnens, Pakistanis, Saudis, and others among the population. Suicide bombers and IED specialists come from the foreigners.

The MP unit assigned to COP Zormat, 3rd Platoon, 92nd MP Company, 95th MP Battalion, led by Sergeant First Class Ronje, trains, mentors, and works with the local Afghan Police on almost a daily basis. (Pictured: SFC Ronje with the Zormat police chief)

His Soldiers teach both policing and military skills to the Afghans and over the ten months that they have been assigned here have developed strong mutual bonds with them.

 The Soldiers are doing everything possible to prepare suitable areas for them to move over to district headquarters and co-locate with the police. They are already taking steps to make the tranistion to the incoming unit smooth, so that the new arrivals can take advantage of the relationships they have developed. (Pictured: Afghan members of the Zormat police force.)


At the unit level, the progress is tangible, if still frustrating in the time it takes to develop. But this is Afghanistan, and things happen here on a very different schedule.

Cruising the Streets of Zormat

After nearly a week without internet access we're finally back in FOB Lightning and able to post some pictures from our stay in Zormat, where we walked through the streets with the MPs from the 92nd.

Many will remember that way back in December 2001, immediately following the infamous Battle of Tora Bora, Bin Laden and many of his Al Qaeda buddies escaped US forces using two different routes: one over the mountains into Pakistan, and the other south into the areas of Gardez (where we are now) as well as the little nearby village of Zormat.

The Taliban also have a significant presence there to this day, and as we walked through the streets with our military escorts we wondered who they were among the hundreds of people we saw there. Here's just a little of what we saw while walking alongside our military escorts:

The villagers are already used to seeing US soldiers in their neighborhood, and most of them seem to appreciate our presence there. Suicide bombers are a constant threat, so this is hardly surprising. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are also a very serious ongoing problem for local civilians, Afghan law enforcement and security personnel, and NATO forces; we saw several civilian vehicles that had been destroyed by IEDs, including this one that's now home for this sleepy stray dog:

Back on the street the many shop keepers and street vendors are always eager to sell you their wares, and are in fact fairly aggressive salesmen, although MPs can rarely take the time to stop to buy anything:

Over several days I only saw a few women in Zormat, and all of them were escorted by male members of the family. If you look carefully at this photo you'll notice the little child glancing at the MPs while zooming past my camera with his parents on a motorcycle:

At any rate, everybody in the village knows that the MPs are on their way to train and otherwise work with the Afghan police just beyond this same street, and that their long-term security rests with the the local police. Gordon will be writing a bit about the police training program in Zormat in the next couple of days, so stay tuned for more!

AJ quick note: different weapons, yup

Hello all, some more random thoughts pictures that don't quite fit with our other blog entries...

Gordon and I have finally been getting out on missions this past week, and while tagging along on guard detail during a Afghan ceremony in Gardez I saw this guard with an RPG standing watch on a wall:

He didn't speak English but I was able to ask him to stand with me wearing my new hat (a floppy "boony" hat) for a photo anyway. Well, as soon as we came to that agreement using sign language, another Afghan officer came running up wanting to be in the picture. Unfortunately, when the third Afghan security man insisted on joining in, the second started getting his hackles up -- so Gordon took the shot in a hurry and we left them behind to sort out whatever differences without me being stuck in the middle.

At any rate, it is a bit strange seeing Afghan security forces carrying around AKs and RPGs so casually, not exactly approved weapons for the US military personnel responsible for training them. It's an interesting situation that leads to show-and-tell moments for both sides (the man shown here in the blue shirt is a "terp" -- short for interpreter -- who arrived to translate for the occasion):

I'll be posting more photos soon, meanwhile, take a look at Gordon's latest post on our trip to Forward Operating Base Chamkani!

Into the Hindu Kush Mountains

We made the four-hour convoy run from FOB Gardez to FOB Chamkani, located in the mountains only 8 kilometers from the Pakistan border, for an overnight visit (photo: homes on a steep hill alongside our travel route, as taken from behind the bullet proof window of an MRAP). The road up is exceedingly rough in spots - at one point it actually follow the bed of a fast-running mountain river for about a quarter mile.

Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, 92nd MP Company say it has been improved over the past year and we passed considerable construction work on route. We also noted that most of the villages had what appeared to be a standard deep well for community use. One of the interpreters, "Bill," said that USAID was responsible for the clean water project.

Chamkani is a town of about 30,000 or so and is deep in Indian country. "See that road?" a sergeant pointed to a winding path leading south. "Right past there is all Taliban. We get into a fight every time we go there. The Special Forces work that area all the time."

Soldiers at the FOB have a bit of improved living conditions compared to what they endured for several months. It used to be "showers" done by having a buddy pour cold bottles of water over your head, chow strictly MREs, and tent living. Over the months they have installed hot and cold running (sometimes) water, have hot food of sorts prepared at the neighboring Special Forces compound, and have constructed the ubiquitous B-huts that dot bases in Afghanistan.

Scenery-wise it is a million-dollar view, with sharp mountains rising on all sides and parallel ridgelines disappearing in the east into Pakistan's troubled tribal area (photo: Chamkani living quarters threatening to slide off the mountain above the parking lot, with the village in the valley below). Ultimately these mountains peak in Nepal with Everest and K-2.

Along the route we saw many of the nomadic Kochui people leading camels, herds of sheep and goats (mostly black lambs), donkeys, and horses.

These people follow the seasons and stay near water, so the low passes are ideal for them at this time of year. They decorate their animals with gaudy colors and pitch tents in community groups for temporary rest stops. (The photo shown here was also taken through bullet proof glass from a moving vehicle, therefore quality suffered a bit).

However, all is not calm here. Along the way we passed a patrol from the MPs based at the FOB who were engaged in a firefight with Taliban. They were accompanying Afghan security forces who had been fired on from ambush.

Chamkani was the scene of a fierce fight in the early days of the war when it was strictly a Special Forces compound. Now that MPs are there, the organic firepower they bring to the fight is an incentive for the Taliban to keep distant.

As we post this, we are back at Gardez preparing for an afternoon mission. Soon we will be at other FOBs and will be reporting on what we see and learn.