'Viper' catches eight Taliban
by Spc. Jim Wagner
KALATA, Afghanistan (Army News Service, March 6, 2003) -- In a village U.S. Army planners didn't know existed, soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., found one of their biggest successes of Operation Viper -- capturing eight known or suspected Taliban and a clutch of weapons and ammunition March 2.
Rerouting their landing zone to the east after finding a village occupying the planned landing zone, CH-47 Chinooks dropped paratroopers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, who immediately set up an assembly point and sent three platoons out on patrol.
No more than two hours later, soldiers from 2nd Platoon detained the first two Taliban.
The results were nothing less than expected for the conclusion of Operation Viper, which started to the west in Baghran Valley two weeks ago and ended in Baghni Valley Monday.
"We didn't have a lot of intel coming (into Baghni Valley), but based on the last couple of weeks of operations in the Baghran Valley, we were expecting Taliban," said 1st Sgt. Jimmy Carabello, Company A first sergeant.
Operation Viper kicked off two weeks ago -- a coalition effort to deny sanctuary to the Taliban, anti-coalition and al-Qaida forces in the area -- after intelligence reported forces gathering in the Baghran Valley.
According to Carabello, those initial patrols flushed them out of the valley and into the Baghni Valley. Since then, Taliban forces have been in hiding and trying to regroup.
"They don't want to fight us as a group, so they're blending into the community," Carabello said.
Searching for Taliban forces in a community of Afghans requires vehicle and compound searches, a time-consuming effort that can take days for a company to complete.
While searching the compounds on the west end of Kalata, paratroopers on the defensive perimeter searched vehicles, and people who were walking in the area.
At one such area, Company A's second platoon found two AK-47s in a truck with four Afghans.
When asked why they had the automatic weapons, one of the Afghans said they were district police, a vague explanation that "Sent up a red flag right away," said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Mercer, platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon.
The Afghans' names were taken down while two were brought in for further questioning at the assembly area. The other two were released.
Intelligence soon confirmed the four as known Taliban.
The two were detained. In a pre-dawn raid, the other two were apprehended at the compound where the truck was parked. Two other suspects were also detained.
"The mission out here was a huge success," said Staff Sgt. Guillermo Ravelo, fire support sergeant, Company A. "Any time you get eight PUCs (persons under control), that's a good thing."
Also taken in the village searches were nine weapons -- two World War II-era Russian weapons, five AK-47s and two British Enfield .308-caliber rifles and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
The mission's success in the Baghni Valley was the culmination of the company's efforts during Operation Viper, said Carabello.
"These guys are seeing the fruits of their labor," he said. "I'm real proud of what they've done here."
(Editor's note: Spc. Jim Wagner is assigned to the 109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Afghanistan.)
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