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U.S. Soldiers Refine Searches of Afghan Civilians for Weapons
Saturday, October 19, 2002
The Associated Press

During a series of recent sweeps through villages along the Pakistani border some Afghans were welcoming. "There is no more Taliban, no more fighting," said a man who refused to give his name as soldiers searched his house in Sardak, a hamlet nestled in a valley along the border. He spoke to reporters through a U.S. army translator.



Others were resentful. "These soldiers come in here and do what they want," said Khial Badushah, a farmer in Sardak. "We do not want them here. This is our country."



MASI KALAY, Afghanistan -- AP
It's a simple routine, repeated almost daily by U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division as they comb the rugged peaks along the Pakistani border in a continuing effort to flush out al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

A soldier, usually an officer, accompanied by a translator, knocks on the front door of a house to be searched. When a man answers -- in Afghanistan, it's almost always a man -- the officer explains they want to search for weapons, asks if they have any and says all the women and children should be moved to one location, to be searched by a female soldier.

The 82nd, a combat infantry division, never trained for this mission. They are swooping into villages, brandishing weapons – then rummaging through the homes of people whose hearts and minds they are supposed to be winning.

"If we did what we're trained to do, we would have wiped this whole village out," said Lt. Sean Lucas, a 24-year-old from Stratford, N.Y., as his company searched a mountainside collection of stone and mud-brick homes. "We can't do that here. Most of these people are innocents."

So, the paratroopers knock on doors and politely ask before entering. But there's only one acceptable answer: They are going to search, regardless of how the owner feels.

The military is increasingly using conventional forces like the 82nd to hunt remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the volatile border region.
(More: San Diego Union-Tribune News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan