U.S. troops sift Afghan villages, seek al-Qaida ties
By Mike Eckel
Associated Press
AHAD, Afghanistan — The Pashtun tribesman squints as a U.S. Army interrogator shows him photos and asks question after question: Where are you from? Who is this man? Where do you work?
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The interrogator listens and watches for any hint of deception, any faulty detail.
A member of the 82nd Airborne Division takes cover during an operation in the town of Sharana in Paktia province, south of Kabul. U.S. troops were searching for weapons and suspected militants linked to al-Qaida.
Fighting terrorism in Afghanistan is as much about gathering intelligence as it is about disarming and seizing al-Qaida and Taliban forces. On the front line are members of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion, who have been combing eastern Afghanistan for people, documents and any links to terrorists.
Their work is like looking at the fragments of a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, says Tommy, an Army interrogator who asked that he not be fully identified. "It's hard to see the whole picture at once."
On a recent four-day mission, several hundred U.S. soldiers would travel by helicopter and Humvee through towns in two Afghan provinces, searching for at least three people suspected of having ties to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
Tommy, an Afghan translator and other soldiers search a religious school in Ahad where U.S. investigators say Taliban teachers may have taught. A photo album found during the search contains several portraits of men believed to have ties to a former Taliban official.
Northeast of Ahad, in the village of Sharana, an Army interrogator named Dave and other soldiers search a mud- and straw-walled shop that sells satellite phone services. The shop's absent owner, named Khan Aga, is suspected of having ties to al-Qaida. Investigators seize blasting caps and explosive powder from the shop, along with computer hard drives they plan to search for financial records.
An employee in his early 20s says Aga fled when he heard the U.S. Army helicopters approaching that morning.
"Why is he scared of us soldiers?" Dave asks. "You're not scared of us."
The man shrugs and says he knows nothing about Aga's whereabouts or of his dealings beyond store business. Still, investigators handcuff him, put a hood over his head and bring him back to a U.S. base near Khost, near the Pakistani border, for more questioning.
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An account of the arrest and a list of seized items are relayed to an intelligence officer elsewhere in the province. Later, analysts at the Khost base may sift through the information. Still later, officials at Bagram Air Base, headquarters for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, will go over names, dates and towns.
Soldiers escort an Afghan man, one of the "persons under control" whom they blindfolded, restrained and took in for questioning at a detention center.
"We're like the first sieve. We filter out the trash from the usable information," says Sgt. Tony Lacy of Texarkana, Texas.
In Afghanistan, where the war has largely turned into a low-intensity, guerrilla conflict, the best way to gather intelligence is by no means a settled question.
Conventional forces operate under the principle of overwhelming number and superior firepower, either when going into battle or searching for information. Special Forces units have criticized that practice. They say a low-key presence — adopting local dress and customs to blend in — yields better and more information over time.
The criticism is "fair to an extent," says Capt. Brian Strider of Asheboro, N.C., an intelligence officer from the Khost base.
At the same time, he says, many al-Qaida or former Taliban fighters have also learned to blend in, slipping into the shadows and folds of a war-torn society. And those opposed to U.S. and foreign involvement have found ways to counter American operations.
"They're quick to adopt to the way we fight, the way we act," Strider says.
Often, the Afghans are prepared when soldiers arrive in a remote village. By relaying messages with flashlights or mirrors or, according to one soldier, hanging laundry or spreading it on the ground in a certain fashion, the Afghans can communicate the movements of soldiers.
"They know where we are, where we're going when we move around the country. It's pretty amazing to us," Strider says. "We're still trying to figure it out."
Interrogators say their work also is complicated by clan loyalties among the Hazaras, Pashtuns and other ethnic groups and tribes. They say that under questioning, many Afghans bend the truth to fit their needs or if they want something in return.
In Ahad, a 71-year-old Pashtun man claims that a nearby Hazara tribe has a cache of heavy weapons. He offers to show soldiers the cache — but only after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and if they give him medicine for his diabetes.
Other Afghans resent the interrogations, which are often done in the presence of heavily armed U.S. infantrymen. In one village, soldiers question the only doctor, Muhammad Gul, for six hours before releasing him.
Later, Gul says he was unfairly targeted.
"I am a professional ... and I was ashamed in front of all the people. In the future, they should have 100 percent intelligence before coming to arrest me," Gul says. "I have no connections to the Taliban or al-Qaida."
