U.S. troops in villages of Afghanistan search for enemies

QIQAY, Afghanistan -- The Afghan villagers watched as five Chinook helicopters roared into their silent valley and disgorged 100 U.S. soldiers, weapons at the ready. An hour later, after drawing no fire, the soldiers came up to talk.

"We're here to help you, to see what you need, and also to find the Taliban and al-Qaida, who did some bad things to the United States," Capt. Todd Fleming, a reservist from Rochester, N.Y., explained to a dozen curious men and boys.

In southeastern Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have combed the mountains and gorges for Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts for months, the pattern is long days spent gathering information -- and trying to build trust.

Sometimes gunfire tears the air, as on Saturday when five U.S. soldiers were wounded and two accompanying Afghan fighters were killed by men firing from inside a compound.

But since the end of Operation Anaconda in March, U.S. soldiers' days in the field have taken on a new routine: talking to villagers to find out what they know and what they need.

During this week's visit to Qiqay, the local men told Fleming the caves had once been used by the Taliban to store weapons, but now they were empty. They had no information about any fugitives.

Humanitarian assessment

Fleming, of the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion, had come with soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division to the remote region to search caves for weapons caches.

But another part of his mission was to conduct a humanitarian assessment of the village -- about eight buildings on two hills above a dried-up river.

Fleming said they hoped to pave the way for international aid groups to help the impoverished villagers.

Village leader Anat Gul squatted and rested his arms on his bent knees as he talked about his home and the needs of the nine families who live here.

Over and over, he told Fleming they needed food, and water. They had two wells -- one was dry, and the other had bad water. There was one mountain spring. The rocky land was almost useless for farming and there were barely any animals to be seen -- a couple of camels, a scattering of donkeys, a cow or two.

Fleming said the troops would leave behind some water, wheat and prepackaged military meals before they left that night.