'Dental diplomacy' to win loyalty

An Apache helicopter buzzes overhead, banks, and swings in the direction of the Pakistani border where hundreds of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have taken refuge in recent months.

But for Britain's elite mountain warriors in the Royal Marines 45 Brigade, there is a more pressing foe. Dr. Mark Woods and his team are loading up their drills and extraction equipment and preparing to launch a secret operation.

The dental team uses all the stealth tactics they have learned back home to home in on what fighters call "the real enemy – tooth decay." Milk chocolate bars labeled "Duncan's of Scotland" are used as a "lure" – one that unfailingly brings Afghan children with a sweet tooth dashing into the open.

"Kids run up to us asking politely for water and candy, sometimes holding a sore tooth," says Dr. Woods. "That is when we jump into action."

The 45 Commando Brigade, possibly the best alpine fighters on earth, didn't envision dental emergencies as their most pressing task when they launched "Operation Buzzard" last week. In a mission both British and US military officials billed as a "sharp end" hunt for the enemy, nearly 300 Royal Marines were airlifted into this former Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold, poised for what commanders said might be fierce combat.

But that fighting task has morphed in recent days into something more akin to a Balkan–style "stabilization mission." Operation Buzzard is, according to a leading British military expert, probably a prototype of a new phase in the war in Afghanistan – a struggle to win the loyalty of Afghan villages, rebuild a nation, and gain much-needed intelligence in the process. Charles Heyman, the editor of British defense publication Jane's World Armies, says that the new goal of the war in Afghanistan is a long term endeavor. "It is still a terrorist pot that needs to be properly drained," he says. "I think we are now moving into the phase of Allied ground domination."

Even the US military, led by a commander in chief who has spoken in the past against the idea of "nation building," is facing the hard realities of Afghanistan, says Heyman. "You can't just fight a war in a country like Afghanistan and then walk away," he says. "In this new phase, 'hearts and minds' is far more important than guns and bullets. This will also be the key to gaining intelligence on ground."

Britain's 300 mountain-ready fighters have been roving across Khost Province's rugged countryside in vehicles ranging from four wheel dirt bikes to British Army Land Rovers.

In some cases, small teams of US special forces can be seen leading the British units through the terrain, which they have worked in already for several months.

Page: 1 | 2