Building bridges to locals in Afghanistan

"I'm not happy about the American forces here, because they create a lot of problems for us," says Mr. Khan. He welcomes the bridge and other building projects, but not the blockade that, he says, has prevented vehicle traffic and led to unnecessary detentions.

"We support the Afghan government and don't allow any [insurgents] to come from our side," insists Khan. "We've said this many times."

"The people [Taliban] who are fighting there are our enemies," says Mohamed Jabar, another council member, with a long white beard half dyed orange. "I swear we don't have any relations with those people."

Encouraging just those sentiments is one aim of the US strategy in Kunar and four other eastern provinces, where $43 million has been earmarked for immediate reconstruction projects as part of Operation Mountain Fury, announced over the weekend.

In this valley alone – where rough-hewn rock mountains define the landscape – four bridges are planned for the Pech River, and a seven-mile, $500,000 road project to go the length of the valley was launched last Friday. The province has 317 schools, but only 56 with buildings – another statistic that the Army says it wants to change.

"It has been a process of separating the enemy from the people ... long enough to create breathing space to connect the people to their government," says Lt. Col. Chris Cavoli, commander of the 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry, of the US Army's 10th Mountain Division in Kunar Province.

Until his units arrived last April, the Korengal Valley was a "serious sanctuary" for the Taliban, says Lt. Col. Cavoli. Now, the blockade focuses on where "some elders and their families collude with the enemies," and is "designed to prevent movement of enemy supplies" into the valley.

The last five roadside bombs to be found were turned in by locals or Afghan forces. "For the first time ever," says Cavoli, "in the last few weeks we started to get walk-in information on the enemy deep in the Korengal."

Despite limited troop numbers, the US plan this time differs markedly from past efforts in these remote provinces, where Taliban – often based and supported on the Pakistani side of the border – have increased attacks this year.

"We've been in Korengal a multitude of times in the last four years," says Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, a US spokesman. "We push the bad guys out, ask people to support the government, and they say they will. Then we leave and the Taliban come back, and the people are in the middle."

US forces are "trying to get over the hopscotch thing," says Colonel Fitzpatrick, and "will stay until the government is capable of putting in robust enough forces."

But that is not deemed good news by all. Among the men who joined the crowd at the bridge opening was Mohamed Zahir, who complained of civilian casualties during US bombardments.

"[The American] presence will not help bring security. If they stay here, there will be a lot of security challenges for us," says Mr. Zahir. "As a result of one or two [insurgents] they bomb our area, destroy our crops and destroy our business."

Battalion commander Cavoli counters that permanent security will depend on Afghan forces, not the US. There have been "very few" civilian casualties, he says, though he is paying compensation for a herd of goats killed in one US strike. "We strive that there be no civilian casualties," says Cavoli. "It's enormously counter-productive."

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