Destruction of Afghan Villages

Afghan Villagers Return Home To Devastation

Quil Lawrence/NPR: Children stand on the ruined wall of a house in a hamlet in Lower Khasro, Arghandab.

January 31, 2011 - This summer, U.S. troops surged into southern Afghanistan, pushing into Taliban territory and setting off some of the fiercest fighting since the war began.

In the Arghandab River Valley, U.S. soldiers faced Taliban snipers and a plague of landmines and booby-traps that claimed hundreds of American and Afghan lives.

When U.S. troops fought in Arghandab, they had to unlearn one of their most basic instincts: When the took fire, they had to remember not to hit the dirt for cover. Arghandab was so full of homemade land mines — what the military calls IEDs — that lying down on the ground was more dangerous than standing up amid the bullets.

But Arghandab went quiet a couple of months ago, either because the U.S. troop surge finally drove the Taliban out or because the Taliban left, as the dense foliage they used as cover fell away for the winter.

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