Time Sep

54 TIME September 3–10 2018

voy inched forward three Taliban emerged from
an alleyway and ired a rocket that slammed into
one vehicle’s machine-gunner turret injuring the
Air Force pararescue jumper manning the position.
Bits of metal and debris lew into the vehicle. The air
was thick and acrid. “There was so much smoke and
dust” says Tamim Ahmed the team’s Afghan inter-
preter. “I couldn’t see straight for a couple minutes.”
The vehicle’s other gunner turned his weapon on
the Taliban ighters who were dumbfounded they
didn’t kill everyone inside the truck. With a burst of
ire the gunner took out all three insurgents. But the
pararescue jumper was severely wounded. A young
soldier in another vehicle was also hit with shrapnel
that would ultimately claim an eye. Neither man has
been publicly named but both later received Purple
Heart awards according to U.S. military oicers in
Afghanistan. (Despite their perilous mission the U.S.
military oicially labels these soldiers as “advisers.”)
When a rescue helicopter arrived to evacuate the
wounded a rocket came within 150 feet of hitting it.

IT WAS CLEARfrom the nonstop attacks that U.S.
forces would have to stay inside Ghazni Provincial
Center a local government headquarters building to
ensure it wouldn’t be overtaken. ODA 1212 split of
from 1333 and established a headquarters there with
Afghan forces. The soldiers stayed away from open
windows and tried to remain hidden on the roof from
snipers positioned just outside the facility’s fortiied
gates waiting for a clean shot.
Over the following two days the Taliban switched
its focus to Ghazni’s less-defended surrounding
areas. Afghan commando and Ktah Khas counter-
terrorism teams went house to house clearing neigh-
borhoods of Taliban ighters. It was the audacity of
the Taliban’s tactics in Ghazni that stuck out to U.S.
soldiers. ODA 1333 and other teams had been at-
tacked in Ghazni before but typically in hit-and-
runs—Taliban ighters would hang a mortar round
or take a pot shot at their enemies then melt in with
the local population. During this siege of Ghazni the
insurgents walked the streets in broad daylight ir-
ing on American armored vehicles knowing U.S.
warplanes were hunting them overhead. “From a
military standpoint it’s not very smart” the Special
Forces team sergeant says. “Because they attack and
they usually die. But if they get of what they need to
get of I guess they feel like they win.”
The Taliban seemed to have a limitless supply
of rockets sometimes iring 20 or 30 at a time. One
after another U.S. vehicles were knocked out of the
ight. When that happened another unit would ar-
rive to hook up a tow rope and drag the vehicle out of
the kill zone all while exposing themselves to enemy

World

Nakibullah

Salwary 35

who was injured

during the

Taliban assault

on Ghazni sits

on a hospital bed

on Aug. 16