"They probably shot 500 rounds at us," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Bishop, 34, of Fairfield, Ohio. Bishop was in the last vehicle of the convoy, which was hit with a grenade and several bullets, causing a flat tire. "I thought the vehicle was on fire because of all the smoke," he said.
Another threat to U.S. troops in this area has been the proliferation of improvised roadside bombs. Because the armored Humvees are able to withstand many such explosions, the Taliban fighters have switched to a new tactic -- triple-stacking antitank mines for more lethal effect.
Members of the Afghan national army, trained by U.S. Special Forces, on patrol earlier this year in the country's south, where Taliban guerrillas remain active.
(Dudley M. Brooks -- The Washington Post)
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With the enemy so elusive, little is known about the Taliban guerrillas here and how they continue to exert control in the area, except for the information coaxed from locals who are not too frightened to talk, and from Abdul Satar, the local militia leader.
Abdul Satar returned from exile in Pakistan when U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in late 2001. The Taliban has put a price on his head, he said, and has warned anyone here against cooperating with him or joining his forces.
About two months ago, the Taliban in Parlay killed Abdul Satar's 30-year-old brother, Abdul Ghaffar, along with another man, Abdul Ghani, who was working with Abdul Satar. They killed the two in front of a group of villagers, according to Abdul Satar and Hayatullah, Abdul Ghani's father.
"First they shot him, then they hit him with stones," Abdul Satar said of his brother. "They said, 'If you work with the Americans, this will happen to you.' "
He spoke during a meeting with Peterson and two dozen members of his own militia in the village of Mianishin, about two hours south of Parlay over rugged road. In a bare, unlit building that serves as the community mosque, with the militiamen's AK-47s hanging from pegs in the stone wall, the men conversed over strongly sweetened tea and biscuits.
Other Afghans who made their way to Mianishin told similar stories about the Taliban in the area. They spoke of as many as 300 Taliban guerrillas in the mountains, and how they threaten people not to vote and not to cooperate with the U.S. forces. They said the Taliban also leave what the Afghans called night letters -- warnings at the homes of people they want to scare.
Besides making contact with local militia leaders, Peterson's team also is assisting with basic medical needs in this desolate area. Every contact, Peterson said, is a chance to glean new insights into an enemy they cannot see.
"Everybody is an intelligence operative out here," he added. "Everybody we interact with is a chance to collect information. But it doesn't happen overnight. The further we spread out, the better picture we build."
