Afghan officials allege that 65 civilians were killed in U.S. military operation

Since the 101st Airborne Division arrived in eastern Afghanistan in June, its troops have killed about 2,500 people, compared with about 1,500 in the same period the previous year, said Maj. Gen. John Campbell, the top commander in eastern Afghanistan.

Konar, in particular, has been extremely violent.

"That's been our most kinetic area," Campbell said in an interview this month. "We've dropped over 900 bombs since we've been here, and probably greater than 50 percent has been up there. We've fired over 30,000 artillery rounds, mortar rounds, and much of it has been up there."

The residents, long accustomed to living in essentially ungoverned territory, have fought to keep foreign forces out.

"They're in extreme isolation," Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend, a senior Army official in eastern Afghanistan, said of parts of Konar. "They just don't want us there."

The U.S. military has withdrawn from some areas, such as the Korengal valley, because years of bloody battle failed to yield results. Insurgents from al-Qaeda, the Haqqani network, the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, and Lashkar-i-Taiba have been known to operate in Konar.

"There's a toxic stew of bad guys up there," Townsend said. "We don't want a sanctuary to emerge for Taliban and terrorists such as Lashkar-i-Taiba who may harbor transnational goals."