A Battlefield Tourist

Allies Take Control of Vital Bridge in Nuristan

May 10 at 7:07pm by David Tate

More than 200 American paratroopers and their Afghan allies air assaulted into the mountains overlooking Gowardesh Bridge, Nuristan Province, firmly reclaiming full control of the area following nearly a year of fighting.

The offensive to recapture the bridge began on April 22^nd when paratroopers from 1/503 (173^rd AB) and 1/91 Cavalry Regiment (AB) teamed up with Afghan National Army forces for a nighttime air assault onto three peaks overlooking the bridge. The bridge itself was secured April 26^th.

After the initial landings, Afghan Army soldiers and US combat engineers worked to build reinforced bunkers at defending the bridge, as well as three fortified observation points on the mountains overlooking the area.

One outpost, and positions protecting the bridge, will eventually be turned over to reinforced and retrained Afghan Border Police. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will maintain control of two of the observation posts.

In August, 2007, Afghan Border Police abandoned their security posts controlling the bridge after threats from militants in the area. The positions were then destroyed by the insurgents.  The area has seen a number of firefights in the area ever since. Four times American troops have come back to Gowardesh Valley in force since August, and all four times the Americans found themselves in pitched battles.

The US military says the bridge is a vital point for the movement of insurgents and weapons coming from Pakistan into the Afghan interior. The bridge crosses the Kunar River and is important to the Afghan government and ISAF in order to continue work on the main road into rural Nuristan Province. The US military believes the economic development that will hopefully follow a new highway into the province is key to their counterinsurgency strategy.

However, there is concern that the Afghan Border Police will again abandoned their positions as soon as the Americans leave, a scenario that has been repeated several times in this region. In an effort to prevent a mass desertion, the Americans spent more than four months retraining, refitting and planning the operation.

Beginning this week, the Americans will start withdrawing in stages, slowly weaning the Afghans off the American presence as confidence among the Afghans builds. The Americans say a majority of local and provincial tribal leaders are supporting the operation, which is raising hope that the desertion problems of the past will not be repeated here.