� S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S �Sunday, November 22, 2009 F3HIJKLM K PAGE 7
BY JAY PRICE
McClatchy Newspapers
FORWARD OPERATING
BASE NAWBAHAR, Afghani-
stan -- The Taliban had set a trap
for the tiny company of Afghan
soldiers, its handful of U.S. men-
tors and the American helicop-
ters that they expected would
rush in to help.
Firing mortars to lure the
Americans and Afghans out of
their mud-straw base, the mo-
torcycle-borne Taliban headed
toward a nearby ravine. Dozens
of insurgents with light machine
guns, a recoilless rifle and four
trucks bearing three anti-aircraft
guns and a heavy machine gun
were set up in a classic ambush
from high ground.
U.S. and Afghan troops didn't
take the bait, however, and in-
stead waited in a village near the
base for air cover. It arrived more
quickly than the Taliban expect-
ed. Firing Hellfire missiles and
30 mm cannons, the pilots of two
Apachehelicoptersmadesomany
passes that they lost track and
nearly ran out of ammunition. Af-
ghan and U.S. ground troops then
moved in to kill more.
At least 17 Taliban died in the
fight Nov. 7, possibly as many as
20, according to pilots and Af-
ghan soldiers, who think the Tal-
iban took the other bodies. The
Americans and Afghans suffered
no losses.
The base where the battle oc-
curred is in eastern Zabul prov-
ince, in a location so remote
that U.S. soldiers there dubbed
it "F.O.B. Nowhere." On Satur-
day, the U.S. Army had the two
Apache pilots travel to the base to
meet the Afghan and American
soldiers on the ground, who'd pre-
pared a celebratory feast of rice
and goat. It was a rare chance
for soldiers who see the fighting
from different vantage points to
share their experiences of the
same battle.
The Afghan brigade command-
er, Maj. Gen. Jamall din Sayad,
flew to give his congratulations
Afghan-style, handing out cash
rewards to the Afghan soldiers
who'd distinguished themselves
in the mop-up fight. Nearby sat
a 25-foot table loaded with weap-
ons and bomb parts captured in
the battle. Beside it were two of
the anti-aircraft guns and a dozen
Honda motorcycles that the Tal-
iban fighters had been using.
The pilots, Capt. Kyle Maki,
25, of Memphis, Tenn., and Chief
Warrant Officer 3 Keith Matz, 37,
of Slippery Rock, Pa., mugged for
pictures in the seats of the anti-
aircraft guns, then checked out
the austere fort, which was made
of a mixture of mud and straw,
was the size of a suburban yard
and looked like a child's vision of
the Alamo.
Everything from food and
water to people and fuel has to be
brought in by air, and without any
senior officers around, hair gets
a little long and some soldiers go
for weeks without baths.
As Matz fired up a fat cigar,
an Afghan sergeant dashed up to
Maki and embraced him.
"Boom, boom, boom!" he
shouted. "Shooting Taliban, it's
very good!"
Then the pilots, who are mem-
bers of the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based
82nd Combat Aviation Brigade,
climbed a ladder to the ramparts
and described the 6-foot flames
that had been coming out of one
of the anti-aircraft guns as it fired
at them.
The surprise to all was
how professional the gunners
seemed. Maki told McClatchy
Newspapers that usually when
the Apaches attack, insurgents
fire a few shots, throw down
their guns and run. This time,
they simply moved when he fired
at them, took new positions and
began firing again.
"They actually held their
ground," he said. "It looked like
they came looking for a fight."
"There were so many, it was
like you had hit an ant nest," Matz
added. "You'd see them scurry
and reposition."
Second Lt. Christopher Goeke,
23, the commander of the U.S.
trainers at the fort, who are
members of the Army's Fort
Bragg-based 82nd Airborne Di-
vision, said the Afghan soldiers
had pushed forward eagerly for
the fight, maybe too eagerly.
"I'm not sure we would have
done what they did, but they
aren't as well-trained as we are,"
said Goeke, who's from Apple
Valley, Minn. "They were brave,
though."
One of the dead insurgents ap-
peared to be from a former So-
viet bloc country, which would
mean that the ambush included
hard-core, experienced Taliban
fighters.
"And they had more firepow-
er than we'd ever seen before,"
Goeke said.
The Afghan soldiers pounced
on the Taliban's bodies, check-
ing pockets for a more immedi-
ate kind of cash reward for their
work, several soldiers said. One
of them recovered a video cam-
era, Goeke said, with tape that
yielded some valuable intel-
ligence. One segment, he said,
showed what appeared to be the
ambush group working itself into
a frenzy for the battle. The men
were clearly on drugs, he said.
The Taliban have intimidated
villagers who live near the base
to the point that they won't do
anything to help the Afghan and
U.S. soldiers, Goeke said, in one
case even turning down a recon-
struction project.
The Afghan army unit and an
even smaller national police sta-
tion next door -- also mentored
by the Americans -- are the only
real representatives of the U.S.-
supported national government
for miles in any direction. If
they'd been beaten, locals would
have grown even more skeptical
that they could offer protection
from the insurgents.
Instead, word of a Taliban de-
feat spread in the villages and
among the insurgents.
"It's premature to say there's
any sort of irreversible momen-
tum, but with more victories like
this, there's the chance to move
toward that point where there
is," said Lt. Col. David Ocland-
er, 42, of Chicago, the battalion
commander for the U.S. mentors
at the base and one of the visiting
officers.
"This will send a huge mes-
sage throughout the area. It will
give the [Afghan soldiers] more
confidence and give the people
more confidence in them, and it
also will undermine the confi-
dence of the Taliban."
PHOTOS BY CHUCK LIDDY, RALEIGH (N.C.) NEWS & OBSERVER/MCT
Afghan soldiers at Forward Operating Base Nawbahar, Afghanistan, carry weapons and ammunition confiscated from the Taliban. U.S.
Apache helicopters recently foiled an ambush attempt by Taliban fighters that would have resulted in heavy casualties. The weapons were
displayed during a celebratory meeting with the helicopter pilots from Fort Bragg.
Afghan Maj. Gen. Jamall din Sayad speaks with Lt. Col. Carey Wagen and Lt. Col. David Oclander during
a celebratory meeting at remote Forward Operating Base Nawbahar.
Afghan, U.S.
soldiers feast
after foiling a
Taliban attack
Apache might routs would-be ambush

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