Transcript: Afghanistan: The Forgotten War

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Afghanistan: The Forgotten War

Images and Impressions from Afghanistan

BRANCACCIO: The war in Afghanistan was the occasion for a rare moment of semi-agreement between John McCain and Barack Obama - this week both said they want a renewed and enlarged military effort there.

What's going on in Afghanistan is pretty ugly. Taliban forces have made a broad comeback. Casualties are way up for the U.S. and its allies. The challenge is immense: not just to win battles, but also to win over villagers to forge a stable peace. Bill Gentile filed this report from the front lines in southern Afghanistan.

SOLDIER #1: I'm looking for air on Target One...

SOLDIER #2: I'm gonna put 500-pound air burst over the truck.

GENTILE: The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit has come to a tough neighborhood - territory controlled by the Taliban, near the border with Pakistan.

SOLDIER #2: Ok so you're going to let me run first pass and second pass before you do artillery.....sweet. I'll take it.

GENTILE: 31-year-old Captain Sean Dynan commands alpha company. The months that the Marines are spending here are part of a broad strategy to retake control of the area along the Afghan-Pakistan border where Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents have dug in. Dynan and his men use pinpoint accuracy targeting the enemy.

DYNAN: Right now we've identified the enemy doing their re-supply we've been tracking them for a couple of days we've actually had eyes on their weapons systems on their ammo so we're going to hit both the ammo truck that they're doing the re-supply from and we're going to hit the compound they're moving to right now.

GENTILE: There is some confusion about the exact location of the enemy. The Marines are concerned about killing civilians. And the air strike is cancelled. The mission of the Marines represents a new strategy aimed at winning Afghan hearts and minds. For nearly three weeks, I followed the Marines on the front lines of what has been called "the real war on terror"

their goal, to push the Taliban back and destroy its fixed positions. And just as important, to win the support of the villagers and get the economy re-started. There's a question here. Can these seasoned fighters also play the role of peacemakers and win the trust of the local population?

The Marines are operating in one of the richest agricultural regions of Afghanistan. The Helmand River valley has become a key route for Taliban fighters, weapons and materiel flowing further north into Afghanistan, and for opium flowing south from this region into Pakistan.

This is the opium capital of the world......and it's opium that helps fund the insurgents' fight.

SOLDIER: What's up Lieutenant?

MILLER: Alright...in the village that we can see directly to our east you see the long wall that's on the east side of a compound across the poppy field to the right

GENTILE: 2nd Lieutenant Shean Miller works under Captain Dynan. Miller commands Alpha Company's 2nd platoon.

MILLER: My western post sighted a white pickup truck break...

GENTILE: Miller gets word on the insurgents, and moves his men into position to take them on.

MILLER: We have Marines at 59, 54, 55 over...

GENTILE: Taliban insurgents seized this area from the Afghan government about two years ago. Back in April when the Marines arrived, the civilians had already fled to the desert because they knew a fight was coming. In May, as the Marines advanced, the Taliban put up ferocious resistance. But a relentless Marine offensive pushed the Americans deep into the valley.

This area now is a free-fire zone. Anyone still here is a suspected Taliban fighter—and may become a target. Miller gets word that a nearby squad of Marines is taking fire.

MILLER: They are engaged by RPG shot and small arms fire break.

GENTILE: I move up with staff sergeant Steven Vallejo. Vallejo is a Kickapoo Indian from Kansas City. This is Vallejo's second deployment. His first was to Iraq.

VALLEJO: Apache two this is Lighting. Roger be advised myself and Comanche are moving to that complex just north of Comanche's old paws, over.

GENTILE: We meet the snipers lugging a long-range .50 caliber rifle. We make our way past fields of poppies...and immediately take enemy fire.

SOLDIER: Is that incoming, sir?

VALLEJO: Yes it is. That's incoming

GENTILE: The Marines respond with artillery ... and with the sniper rifle.

SOLDIER: Hey staff sergeant . We got a tractor moving what appears to be mortar tubes...950 yards.

GENTILE: It's a deadly guerrilla war that goes on day and night. The next morning the Marines spot insurgents moving in on their position from this compound. Miller requests air and artillery support. This is Miller's first deployment, which makes him a rookie. The 24-year- old is from Austin, Texas. He coordinates the 40 -plus Marines in his platoon, as well as the air and artillery assault. Huey and Cobra helicopters initiate the attack. That's the sound of rapid-fire machine guns strafing enemy positions. Miller must ensure that neither the artillery nor his Marines on the ground accidentally hit the helicopters overhead. Timing is critical.

MILLER: I'll tell you when to shoot, alright. Three minutes. Three minutes.

GENTILE: Rockets from the helicopters set the fields ablaze. The helicopters pull back and Miller orders ground fire.

MILLER: Hey....we got it.

SOLDIER: Fire

MILLER: Hit the tree line. 40 seconds...40 seconds till air comes back around...get ready to cease fire.

Cease fire.

Alright, now it's just if we see em move we can kill em...That first shot they did that place went up in flames I don't know if it was 'cause it was dry or if they had something down there.

GENTILE: And finally more artillery...

SOLDIER: I think they're pissed

MILLER: I think they're dead.

Ah, we started a blaze all along that tree line for about 200 meters if there's anybody hiding in the tree line they're either out because of the fire or they're dead because of the fire explosion itself. For our purpose, that was a good day.

GENTILE: The Marines now are in sight of the Amir Agha village and bazaar, the nucleus of insurgent activity. But before moving in, Alpha Company must first clear the surrounding area.

DYNAN: Don't move without a guardian angel...it's going to be a maze in there if you can peek over a wall before you enter in from an unexpected direction, do that as well.

MILLER: If it's ok with you if we find ourselves right up against a bunker and there's any suspicion... it we'll throw a grenade in there...

DYNAN: Absolutley.

GENTILE: The temperature rises to about 120 degrees.

MILLER: Hey what's been cleared on the right. We'll probably leave a team over here and then go across to the next one. We just gotta check if we can move across this way or back behind this building. All this has been cleared?

SOLDIER: Everything behind's been cleared.

GENTILE: The Marines find a bunker that had been used to ambush one of their patrols just days before. One marine was killed here. These Marines prepare to blow it up.

MILLER: This is a snake of a compound...lot of locks you can't get over unless you cross down the road which we don't want to do so it's just going to be slow....

GENTILE: Neither resistance - nor civilians. The streets are deserted as the Marines continue their sweep. There may be no resistance but that doesn't mean there's no danger.

SOLDIER 1: Whao. What's that right there?

SOLDIER 2: Oh, you mean the arty shell that's sitting right there?

GENTILE: The Marines are too pressed for time to determine whether this artillery round simply failed to explode or was wired to kill them.

MILLER: Alright we'll get our machine gun up here and then that'll be our furthest where we'll go and we'll hold here. What's going on is we've cleared almost half a village already we're just getting' a machine gun in this little tower over here, the only two story structure in Afghanistan. That way we can see deep. This squad's gonna hold here cause we've got pretty clear fields of fire for at least 100 meters.

GENTILE: Captain Sean Dynan has set up a command post on the edge of the Amir Agha village and bazaar.

DYNAN: They're going to be able to see us real good when the sun comes up.

GENTILE: This sprawling bazaar is the prize of the operation and the Marines move out to the village that surrounds it.

On the right, fields of wheat. On the left, fields of dried poppies. This is the yin and yang of the Afghan farmers' existence. Opium yields more profit than wheat, but it's illegal here. The Taliban has forced many farmers to cultivate opium so they can finance their insurgency. These poppies have been harvested. Farmers make slash marks on the bulbs, which ooze a gooey sap. That substance is opium.

Five years ago, U.S. policy was to destroy these fields. Villagers were enraged. Now the Marines leave the fields intact. They need the good will of the local population. Everywhere the troops go, they find evidence that the villagers left in a tremendous hurry. Like this baby's crib, still with the mattress and blanket. And this tool used to collect the opium from poppy bulbs. Bicycles, dishes and house ware, like this strainer apparently donated by the United States. There is a break in the fighting and the Marines fall into the routine of life in the field. It's now safe enough to send a truckload of supplies to Dynan's forward command post, including much needed water, for the 200 Marines in Alpha Company. They are among the toughest of the American military. There's a mystique about the Marines, a tradition of achieving more with less and taking on the most dangerous adversaries.

DYNAN: ...special trust and confidence and fidelity abilities of Philip M. Pepper. I do appoint this to Marine to Corporal, United States Marine Corps.

GENTILE: Today Captain Dynan promotes one of his men in a ceremony right on the battlefield. These men have become family, bonded by one of the most formative experiences of their young lives. In early morning light I move out with 4th platoon to clear the bazaar. It's the last step of the military operation before they can start making peace. And it could be the most dangerous. The Taliban have controlled this bazaar for two years and they've had plenty of time to set up defensive positions, and to wire it with traps and explosives. The Marines are covered by attack helicopters. The streets are empty. And it's slow going. One marine uses a metal detector for improvised explosive devices, or IEDs that are so infamous and so deadly in Iraq. Now insurgents are using them here.

The Marines move door to door blowing the locks off the stalls. Captain Dynan oversees the operation.

For Sean Dynan, commanding a company of Marines is a dream come true. Dynan is fourth generation military of his Irish family, which claims four purple hearts since World War II. He was raised just outside of Boston and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Dynan's been a marine for ten years. This is his fourth deployment, the most recent in Ramadi, Iraq, so he knows something about rough neighborhoods.

TREPTOW: We got something that could be nothing....but don't want to take the chance.

GENTILE: Lieutenant Jack Treptow and 4th platoon come across a padlocked freezer.

TREPTOW: Right there we have an industrial size refrigerator that has two sets of wires running out of it.

GENTILE: He suspects the red flag just across the street signifies a trap. Like Dynan, Treptow and many of these Marines already have served in Iraq and they know how deadly these innocent-looking things can be.

They use a remote-controlled robot to examine the freezer close-up, and explosives to blow the lock and chain off the freezer door. This time, it's only soft drinks.

The platoon takes a smoke break and Lt. Treptow brings them up to date.

TREPTOW: I know we're not find a lot on the way up but believe me this clearance is going to get a ton of s... out of the bazaar.

GENTILE: And it does. Mortars already wired as roadside bombs. Rocket propelled grenades. Ammunition and weapons. The bazaar is clear. The combat part of the mission has been accomplished. But what comes next is just as tough. The Marines need to win the trust of the locals who have been living in a battle zone for years. They reach out to civilians who had taken refuge in the nearby desert. Still warriors, the Marines now are diplomats. Exiled during the fighting, the civilians are eager to return home.

But not all the civilians are happy. Said Gul, a farmer, tells the Marines his home has beed damaged by American bombs and artillery.

SOLDIER 3: I apologize for my Marines.

GENTILE: Said urges the Marines to come to his home to see the damage—and asks them to pay for it.

SOLDIER 3: Do you need anything right now that we can help you with?

All of these men want something. This man says a wound on his son's chest is infected and the boy needs help. Others ask the Marines for help with irrigation.

SOLDIER 3: How many gallons of oil we can give him?

SOLDIER 4: Tell him eight.

GENTILE: The Marines decide to hand over diesel, which fuels the water pumps. The men said they had not used the pumps - and their crops had not been watered - during the past 40 days because they had evacuated the area. Said Gul is here to press his case for help. He is a respected land owner—38 years old, married with 12 children. He says his house is just across the canal. He cultivates wheat and poppies, and has a small clothing shop in the bazaar. He offers up this bag of opium in return for help. The Marines decline his offer.

SOLDIER 3: All six rooms have collapsed.

GENTILE: Said is not optimistic that he will get help. And his words indicate how difficult the Marines' mission will be. A civilian interpreter translates his comments:

GUL: Americans came here telling us they are going to help us, they are going to build things, but these are tricks, the same tricks that the Russians played. They said they came here as friends telling us they are going to help us but then they started killing us, martyring people so we don't trust the foreigners anymore.

GENTILE: Said Gul speaks for many of the villagers caught in the middle of a war that never seems to end.

GUL: We are the people in the middle. What we do is just follow the religion of Islam. Live our lives.

GENTILE: Alpha company's compound is now a small fortress, protected against attack and suicide bombers. Four days after our encounter at the canal, Said Gul meets at the command post with civil affairs officers. He wants money for the damage to his home.

CIVIL AFFAIRS OFFICER: Well what does he think it would cost to rebuild that house?

GUL: I just told you what it'd cost.

CIVIL AFFAIRS OFFICER: Well unfortunately I don't have all the money with me enough to pay this type of damage.

GENTILE: Said Gul won'tget any money today. The Marines must win the trust of the villagers but they must also overcome their fear. These villagers lead the Marines to a dead man whose throat was slit, they said, by the Taliban. They say it's a warning not to cooperate with the Americans. They buried him where they found him.

That same night, Captain Dynan coaches his Marines on how their mission has changed.

DYNAN: In the last 24 to 48 hours our area has changed significantly...its gone from us taking fire on a morning and evening basis to zero contact and locals flooding back into the area.

GENTILE: It's a different kind of battle now.

DYNAN: We have locals in the area it's going to be a little tougher now...you treating a human being like a human being is going to make a huge difference.

GENTILE: Dynan hosts a Shurra, or meeting of local elders. He understands the importance of these traditional gatherings. And he wants to forge ties with the locals as soon as possible.

Because this area was occupied by the Taliban, this is the first Shurra these men have attended in three years.

This is what the Marines call "the center of gravity." These are the hearts and minds that must be won to defeat the Taliban. The Marines describe their strategy as clear, hold and build. But without the support of the villagers there can be no "hold." And there can be no "build."

In attendance are the district governor and the chief of police... and not surprisingly, Said Gul.

DYNAN: I am honored to be sitting amongst you right now. I know that myself and my Marines are just another face after 30 years of different people coming through this area. But what I have told my Marines is that the question that they have to answer to you all is how we are different... I know that you all just want to live your lives and that you don't want us to interfere with what you're doing on a daily basis and it is our intention to help and to protect you.

GENTILE: The day after the shurra, civilians return en masse to their homes and their livelihoods. Shepards return with their livestock to the canals. Shop owners return to the bazaar. And the police re-establish a presence for the first time in two years. And you know things have changed when the kids show up. I give these little guys a look at themselves through my camera's viewing screen. It's peaceful here now, but Dynan understands that this is merely the end of the beginning. During the last days of my visit, Captain Dynan took me to Said Gul's compound. That's it, in the background.

DYNAN: Wait for them to come to us. You have to be invited in.

GENTILE: It's surrounded by poppies and marijuana plants. Said apparently has been napping. Even the locals have trouble with the afternoon heat.

DYNAN: I understand there was some damage to your compound?

GENTILE: Dynan gets a first-hand look at damage caused to Said Gul's house during the Marines' battles with the Taliban.

About a month after this encounter, i got word that the Marines had paid Said Gul half the money he wanted to repair his home. And the rest was on its way. These Marines may yet win over Said Gul and the other locals here. But there have been setbacks in other parts of the country.

Just this week, Taliban rebels nearly overran a U.S. military outpost in Kunar province, killing nine American servicemen and forcing others to retreat. The Pentagon agrees on the need for more troops here. In fact, earlier this year the Marine corps proposed to make Afghanistan, not Iraq, its primary mission. The Defense Department said no, and has decided that new troops can't be sent here until more are withdrawn from Iraq. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit has make headway in this valley... but to expand these efforts across Afghanistan will be a major challenge for America's next president.

As for these Marines, their tour of duty has just been extended until November.

BRANCACCIO: Bill Gentile was embedded for nearly three weeks in Afghanistan. Read his behind-the-scenes account and see the vivid photos he took while he was there. It's all on our website.

And that's it for now. From New York, I'm David Brancaccio. We'll see you next week.