Word: nangalam
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...special-forces commanders recently gave TIME access to Camp Blessing, located in Nangalam in eastern Afghanistan. The camp is so secret that it doesn't even appear on U.S. military and embassy maps of bases in Afghanistan. Bin Laden reportedly was spotted within six miles of Nangalam a little more than a month ago. Villagers claim that a member of bin Laden's family wed a local girl farther up the Pesch River...
...Blessing, a U.S. Ranger sergeant killed in November, is a test of the "ink-spot theory of counterinsurgency," says Lieut. Colonel Custer (no first names allowed), the special-forces commander for eastern and southeastern Afghanistan. The idea is that as the U.S. brings stability to places like Nangalam, cooperation from locals will rapidly spread like ink through blotting paper. Since arriving three months ago, the men of ODA 936 have launched numerous reconstruction projects, ranging from new footbridges to schools and clinics. Villages that are neutral or friendly benefit from aid. Those that haven't given up weapons or that...
...Green Berets know they still have plenty of persuading to do. One night, the residents of Nangalam turned off the lights in their homes just before a rocket attack on the U.S. camp. "Someone knew those rockets were coming," says a commando, who cannot be named, like almost all the special-forces members who spoke to TIME for this story. For a base of its size, Camp Blessing is still tenaciously guarded. Observation posts lurk high on the ridges and are manned by Marines on 10-day tours. The Green Berets make sure their weapons-training sessions are loud...
...establishing alliances with Nangalam's villagers, the Green Berets hope that intel will follow. Similar tactics worked for them in the 1960s in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Last month 27 weapons caches were turned in to ODA 936 in Nangalam, more than anywhere else in Afghanistan. Once the troops' presence is established in the Afghan hinterlands, U.S. officers believe, the villagers will start to deny the terrorists sanctuary. Although one Green Beret says, "It's going to take dumb luck to stumble across Osama," the special forces are confident that someone will eventually give...
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