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| Afghanistan | ||
| Afghan Base Tests U.S. Exit Plans | ||
| 2011-11-09 | ||
Weeks after the U.S. Army turned over its base here in the Pech Valley to Afghan troops in March, the Afghan commander went AWOL. His deputy, suspected of being in cahoots with the Taliban, ordered his men not to shoot passing insurgents. Soon the base was alive with rumors the deputy planned to let the Taliban inside the gates. It didn't take long for the Americans to return, either, dragged back into a valley they once considered a trophy and now wish they were rid of. Just four months after pulling out, U.S. Army troops re-occupied the Nangalam base, where they remain to this day. The saga of the base, nestled among forbidding eastern mountains that insurgents use as a highway to and from Pakistan, is a cautionary tale as the U.S. begins drawing down its forces to leave Afghanistan's security in Afghan hands.
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| Posted by:trailing wife |