A Battlefield Tourist

US Had Warning of Attack in Nuristan

Jul 28 at 6:06pm by David Tate

Area in Want where US Vehicle Patrol Base was located

Qourbon had been in the capital of Kabul just a few days when he got a call from relatives telling him things in Nuristan were turning bad.  Not only that, but his home village of Want was about to become the epicenter of trouble.

As an interpreter for US forces, Qourbon is seen as both a patriot and a traitor. In the mirror, Qourbon sees a man who helps those that are helping his country during some very dark times.  Now that war was on the doorstep of his small mountain village, he knew he had to return home.  His first thought is to help protect his family.  A second thought is to warn the soldiers he’s committed to that a large scale militant attack on their base is imminent.

Several email interviews were completed with “Qourbon” for this story, whose name has been changed in an attempt to protect his identity.

July 11

By the time Qourbon and an uncle made it back to Want, in the late afternoon of July 11, the village of around 50 homes was nearly empty. Most of the women and children had already been sent to nearby villages for safety. Qourbon’s father sent his siblings to be with another uncle while he remained behind to guard the family’s home.

“This was a clear message that US troops were going to be attacked by the militants,” thought Qourbon.

Want is a small village that houses two distinct extended families: Wanji and Wanjva. The bazaar, which provides for several other outlying villages, is usually open and bustling. The dozen or so shops providing everything the villagers need to survive. The two hotels in town rarely get overnight guests but they do get regular diners as they serve up local food. The town is rounded out with a mosque and a district center where government security forces have headquartered their security operation.

That is the description on a normal day in Want, which was not the case on July 11th. For several days, word on the streets was that a large force of militants were massing nearby with the intent of overrunning a US position that was in the process of being set up.

Just outside of the town’s bazaar in an open field, US and Afghan troops were busy building basic defensive positions for a new temporary outpost the men were establishing.  The Americans had previously established other ” Vehicle Patrol Bases “ in Waygal district, but had recently scaled them down following a number of deadly attacks, which led to the soldiers working to establish the outpost at Want.  Their mission was to scout an area for a more permenant post in order to facilitate counterinsurgency doctrine.

In all, the main part of the base was anchored by four US HMMWVs, at least one of which was armed with a TOW rocket launcher; the perimeter enclosed with concertina wire. Roughly 75 yards away, the Americans staged a fifth HMMWV and established an observation post that had a good field of view at incoming approaches. However, the location itself was in a precarious position, surrounded on all four sides by overlooking mountains (a second source says three sides).

45 American paratroopers occupied the two positions with two groups of Afghan National Army soldiers, 25 in all; half taking up positions on the north side of the base and the other half south of the position manning a checkpoint along the primary road.

Later that first evening, Qourbon left his home for the Want bazaar to gauge the pulse of a community clearly on the edge. In the bazaar, which was closed, the few remaining men in town were anxiously talking about the imminent attack and what it meant to their village. Qourbon’s father was not exaggerating and he was not alone in his worries so Qourbon focused on telling his American friends that danger was near.

He immediately made his way to where the base was being constructed and tried to meet with the Americans, but was sent home with a promise troops would follow up the visit. A short time later, the Afghan National Army commander came to Qourbon’s home and met with him, his uncle and father. The Afghan commander assured Qourbon and his father they had also been hearing the same reports and defensive measures were being considered.

That same day, US forces fired mortars into the mountains overlooking the base, but other than that, the remainder of the day and following night passed without incident.  During that time, Qourbon tried in vain to get his father to leave the area.

“I begged him to move to Kabul, but he told me he worked his whole life for this home and did not want to give it up.”  Qourbon’s father didn’t think a few rockets here and there was enough to justify leaving.

July 12

The following morning, as troops continued to work on the base, Qourbon decided to make another attempt to warn the Americans of what he believed was brewing on the horizon.  Approaching one of the American vehicles, Qourbon spoke briefly with the turret gunner, who referred him to the unit’s lieutenant.  While looking for him, Qourbon came across Captain Matt Myer, the commanding officer of the American unit positioned in Want.  Qourbon says Myer, who was well known among the local people, was surrounded by local Afghan men discussing the security situation, so he decided not to interrupt and headed home.

Later that afternoon, Qourbon again made the attempt to contact the American officer.  This time he went to what would be considered the “front” gate into the outpost.  There Qourbon met with two Afghan interpreters and relayed his concerns.  Those concerns finally made it to Captain Myer who came and personally met with the worried young Afghan.  Captain Myer told Qourbon that he was aware of the threat and assured him that the Americans had the equipment to monitor the situation.  Feeling a little more assured, Qourbon went home, somewhat satisfied that he’d done his duty.

Later that evening, along with an interpreter and four other soldiers, Captain Myer showed up at Qourbon’s fathers home to talk about the situation more.  The men served the soldiers a humble meal followed by tea.  Around 10pm the soldiers left as the Afghans prepared for prayer and another sleepless night of concern that the winds of war could blow into town at any time.

July 13

Around 4am, the night erupted in chaos.  Gunfire, as thick as rain, punctuated by an endless supply of rocket propelled grenades and explosions filled the night.  The echoes off of the sheer mountainsides amplifying the noise.

Qourbon grabbed his father by the hand and they made their way toward the Waygal River.  In their minds, it was the only way out. 

“It sounded like a hundred people firing,” remembers Qourbon. 

The men followed the river to the town of Damgaleem, in Monogi district, to an area near Camp Blessing.  When they looked back, all they could see was black smoke rising from Want.  They kept moving, all the way to Nangalam.

Local Collusion?

Qourbon says the reports that the insurgents had help from the townspeople are untrue, for the most part.  He claims that while “some” men did assist the militants, most of the attackers had recently come across the border from Pakistan and were not local.  Qourbon says Want’s village elders do not support the fighting.

“I know the villages and people there. Most of them have shops and have a better life than others. I would say they suffered a lot in the fighting. US forces may think that the villagers support them (the militants) but that is not true.”

What is true, according to Qourbon, is that a US air attack on July 4 did contribute to local animosity and could have been why some of his fellow villagers did support the attack. 

“(The attack) opened a way among the people for the militants to preach against US forces.”

According to an American press release, the air strike followed a mortar attack on US forces.  The Americans claim that the two trucks they destroyed were trailed from the scene of that attack.  The Afghans say the two trucks were filled with not only civilians, but civilians that had very good relations with the Americans.

One of the men killed (along with his wife, son and two grandchildren) was a man named Sonkara.  Qourbon says that Sonkara is the one who gave up land so that US forces could build the outpost called Bella (the Afghans call the area “Bayla”). 

Another man killed in the group was called Namatullah.  Namatullah spoke good English and worked as a doctor in the Afghan clinic next to the US base at Bella.  A second doctor and two other clinic workers also died.  In all 17 Afghans were confirmed killed that day. 

“That action really had a negative effect on the people,” said Qourbon.  “The village elders asked the Americans not to come and they came anyway.”

Since the attack, Qourbon says Want is “almost normal”.  He says the militants, who moved into Want after the US pullout, have themselves left, adding that most of the civilians that ran from the fighting have returned to begin putting their community back together.

Note from David:  I did have a YouTube video posted that I THOUGHT was from the action July 13th.  While the video is of Chosen 2/503, it is from a different ambush that happened in Aranus, Nuristan in November 2007.  I am very sorry for this mistake.