U.S. troops step up search for al-Qaida, Taliban weapons

KHAR BOLAH, Afghanistan -- The chatter of the metal detector turned to a solid hum when it reached the center of the house's mud-baked floor. Sgt. Derrick Edwards dug his fingers into the earth, prying apart the flat stones. He shined his flashlight at the dark hollow below.

"It's a weapon," he called out, as the light caught the grip and metal of a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Eighteen months after U.S.-led forces drove out the Taliban regime, search missions like this one, dubbed Operation Crackdown, show that dangers still lurk in the barren Afghan landscape.

The surprise raid on Khar Bolah, a village 50 miles southwest of Kabul, was the latest in the hunt for weapons used by Taliban remnants and their al-Qaida allies, who continue to attack coalition forces and the country's fragile interim government.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush in southern Afghanistan last month, and U.S. bases or positions frequently come under rocket fire.

Children with muddy faces and women in bright pink, blue and green veils stepped outside their compounds as a dozen helicopters arrived, filling the valley with clouds of dust.

The villagers repeatedly denied having weapons, insisting all arms were surrendered to the Defense Ministry months ago.

Munitions uncovered

The door-to-door search took several hours. By the end of the afternoon, the 82nd Airborne's 504th and 505th parachute regiment had uncovered 1,500 pounds of weapons and munitions, said Lt. Col. Mike Lerario, the mission commander.

It was one of the largest caches found yet in an Afghan village, he said. The hidden weapons included 271 rocket-propelled grenades, four RPG launchers, 40 mortar rounds and hundreds of rounds of heavy ammunition, Army spokesman Col. Roger King told a news briefing.

"That's heavy machine gun ammunition and it's not something that they would use for the defense of their homes or hunting. This is big stuff," King said.

Nearly half came from the home of Mohammed Amin. Wearing a green striped vest and a white skull cap, he stood with arms crossed and face blank as he watched soldiers remove grenade after grenade.

"I just keep it," Amin said, when asked why he had the ammunition. "I don't know, someday I might need it."

When Sgt. Dale Kearney came to Amin's home accompanied by engineers with metal detectors, Amin pointed to a section of the wall. The soldiers broke through the wall to reveal a space packed with ammunition. Even more was found in a shed in the yard.

"I don't think they want this stuff here," said Kearney, of Spokane, Wash. "They're just tired of fighting. If it's not here, there's no reason for al-Qaida to come here."

The village appeared to have weathered the Taliban regime better than many others the army has visited, Command Sgt. Maj. Hoyle Hodges said. He pointed out two relatively new water pumps, the glass windows and the healthy condition of the livestock.

"At minimum they were cooperating with the Taliban," said Hodges of Mancos, Colo. "It was probably for monetary compensation."

The soldiers returned AK-47s and hunting rifles to the villagers so they could defend themselves from bandits. Explosives experts destroyed all the other weapons about 1,000 yards away from the village. The huge explosion made the valley glow pink for a few seconds after dark.

"I don't believe we found everything, there is probably still more in there. The problem is how intrusive do you get," Hodges said. "You have to balance how negative an impression you want to leave with how much weapons you want to pull out."