Seals (2005) (16 page)

An exchange of words between Ibrahim and the elders began until Brannigan grew tired of the chattering. "What the hell's going on?"

Ibrahim explained, "The villagers are frightened about these men who do not live here. They are saying they came from the warlord's fort yesterday and stayed with kin."

"Take 'em as prisoners, Senior Chief," Brannigan said. "Second Squad! Start going through the huts! And be careful. If anything looks suspicious, shoot first and we'll sort it out later."

Lieutenant Jim Cruiser led his men into the village and they began kicking doors open. They discovered no people, but immediately found weapons, tossing them out of the huts. It took half an hour to complete the process that revealed more than a hundred firearms. Most were modern AK-47s, but a few pistols and even a half dozen ancient muzzle-loading rifle muskets were among the arms the SEALs discovered.

While the little community was brought under control, Frank Gomez set up his radio and informed SOCOM that the area was occupied. After an exchange with the commo center, he closed the transmission and reported to Brannigan. "Sir, we're gonna get some visitors from Kabul tomorrow morning. Official types to take a look at things."

"I expected that:' Brannigan said. "Did they say anything about us being relieved?"

"No, sir."

Brannigan sighed. "I expected that too."

.

21 AUGUST

1000 HOURS LOCAL

THE night before had been uneasy for everyone. The villagers had returned to their huts right after the initial introduction to the platoon, and the men who had been working in the field were met by Charlie Fire Team who ordered them into their huts with warnings not to come out. However, these were farmers not mujahideen and they hadn't the slightest intention of making trouble.

Wild Bill Brannigan put his men on 50 percent alert, keeping both stationary and mobile sentry posts in operation throughout the hours of darkness. By dawn he had changed the guard to a squad at a time standing around the outskirts of the village at vantage points in case someone tried to leave.

THE approaching helicopter could be heard long before it came into sight over the distant mountain ridges. When it arrived, the MH-6K Blackhawk came in with a dust-scattering roar, setting down lightly just outside the entrance to the village. When the engine was cut, two figures came out of the troop compartment and hurried over to where Brannigan and Jim Cruiser waited. Ibrahim and Hajji stood respectfully to the rear of the officers, happy at this event that would get them closer to returning to their homes in Kabul.

One of the arrivees was a civilian in casual clothing that included field boots and a wide-brimmed boonie hat. The other was a U. S. Army lieutenant colonel wearing desert tan BDUs. He returned the salutes rendered him by the two SEAL officers.

"How are you, gentlemen?" he said with a wide smile. "I'm Colonel Latrelle from the military mission in Kabul. Allow me to present the honorable Zaid Aburrani. He is a special envoy of the Afghanistan government."

"This is my Two-I-C Lieutenant Cruiser," Brannigan replied after identifying himself. He gestured to the ex-hostages "These are the government agents we freed." .

Ibrahim and Hajji salaamed respectfully. Aburrani took the behavior as his due, but he gave them a friendly smile. "I am pleased you are safe:'

"Shukhriya," they replied, expressing their gratitude in the Urdu language.

Brannigan continued. "I've set up a CP in the first but over there. We can discuss things better inside."

Ibrahim and Hajji went to the well to wait while the other four men walked over to the impromptu command post. Inside, the little mud building was void of furniture except for a thick carpet. Neither Latrelle nor Aburrani seemed fazed by this lack of modern conveniences, and they settled down on the rug, crossing their legs.

"I don't have any refreshments," Brannigan said. "I could get some MREs, but somehow that doesn't seem appropriate."

Latrelle chuckled. "Don't bother, Lieutenant. I'm strictly a staff officer from Civil Affairs, and I came here with a full stomach after a good breakfast that followed a full night's sleep."

Brannigan had noted the lack of either a parachutist badge or combat infantryman's badge sewn above the man's left breast pocket. He knew that in the Army, that meant Latrelle would never wear general's stars on his collar or epaulets. However, later on he could well be one of those retired colonels who appeared as military pundits on TV news shows.

The SEAL looked at the Army officer. "What can we do for you, sir?"

"The first thing is a 'well done' to you and your men," Latrelle said. "When you wiped out Warlord Durtami and his band of thugs, you did a lot of people a hell of a big favor."

"We didn't exactly wipe him out," Brannigan said. "He managed to escape with his surviving people to the north."

"He will be joining his brother-in-law," Aburrani interjected. "That particular gentleman will be ten times the trouble getting rid of." He shrugged. "But, alas, we will have to deal with him. And that will be soon, I fear."

"At any rate," Latrelle said, "the rescue of these two hostages has raised morale considerably in the voter registration program."

Aburrani nodded enthusiastically. "That is most important, Lieutenant. Our people now know we will make strong efforts to liberate them. These are not the first of these dedicated people to be taken prisoner. And a few have been murdered. They are most courageous to continue their dangerous work in the democratization of Afghanistan."

"I'm glad we could help," Brannigan said. "In the meantime we are waiting for orders. I don't know if we're going to be relieved or continue to carry the load here."

"You'll be continuing to carry that load, Lieutenant," Latrelle said. "Right now SOCOM has no one to send in to take your place. And all the conventional forces in this theater are hard at working trying to find terrorist camps and cells hiding out in the wilderness. And, of course, the hunt for Osama Bin Laden continues." He turned to Aburrani. "By the way, I noticed some poppy fields when we flew in here. What is being. done about them?"

"They are scheduled to be destroyed," Aburrani said, covering up the truth about the opium industry. "We wait only for funds from the American government to pay the farmers. I fear they will not readily submit to losing their best cash crop without having money in hand to make up for the loss."

"I can't say that I blame them," Latrelle said. "These poor people have endured hardships for decades. We certainly don't wish to add to their suffering by making them wait for badly needed cash."

"That is most understanding of the American government," Aburrani said. He nodded to Brannigan. "Colonel Latrelle and I would like to visit the site of Durtami's old fortress. We wish to take photographs for an official report."

"Certainly," Brannigan said. "I assume it will be all right if we use the Afghan government van outside. Or would you prefer your helicopter?"

"The van would serve our purpose better," Latrelle said. "A close-up inspection of an OA is always advantageous."

"Certainly, sir," Brannigan said, thinking that only a staff weenie would think a quick cross-country drive would familiarize him with an active OA.

The four men got to their feet and went outside.

Chapter 11

THE KHAMAMI FIEFDOM

WARLORD Hassan Khamami was a muscular, handsome man with a heavy beard and lively green eyes that reflected his high intelligence. He was also a lusty warrior chief with three wives, and further enhanced his sex life with two concubines from the lowly Dharya Clan of the Pashtun people. He maintained these playmates in a but away from his family.

The warlord ruled his holdings from a sturdy wooden castle called Al-Saraya. Unlike his brother-in-law Ayyub Durtami, who allowed his people to live within the walls of his fortress, Khamami mandated that his followers keep their village outside his rustic palace grounds.

Many outsiders thought that the warlord had come to be the commander of his private army through heredity since his father was also a great leader of mujahideen. In truth, he gained control of the fighting force not through the peaceful legalities of his father's will, but by violently turning on two of his half-brothers who also had ambitions to control the armed band. 'Their sire had a total of four wives who had presented him with three sons and ten daughters. All the women in the old amir's household were proper Muslim women who had no ambitions toward acquiring leadership. The third wife, however, saw the advantages of having her two sons take over the fiefdom, and she urged them to contest Hassan's claim to the throne.

This set off a mini civil war that went on for three years before Hassan's superior skills in field command smashed the opposition. Both half-brothers were hanged in public executions held outside the castle walls. Their domineering mother was beheaded in front of the gallows even as her sons' corpses hung there. This was the traditional punishment of adulteresses, and Khamami jokingly remarked that this was her proper due since she loved power more than his father.

The macabre event was stark evidence to the rest of the people that their new leader was not to be trifled with. Khamami assembled the opposition's frightened followers and gave them a blanket pardon if they swore their faith to him in 'the name of Allah. These grateful fighters became some of his most loyal soldiers. When the dust settled, the warlord had a large mountain stronghold and close to two hundred armed men at his beck and call.

Within a year Khamami added to his holdings by conquering some minor warlords in the area. These men resented the intrusion into their domains, and did not submit meekly to Khamami's authority. Consequently, they were dispatched in secret assassinations that included shootings, ambushes and even a couple of poisonings. These deaths left their people confused and lost. It was only natural that they turned to the most powerful leader around for protection. None realized this was the very man who was responsible for the murder of their chiefs.

This doubled both Khamami's land holdings and his army. The one person to whom he showed mercy was Ayyub Durtami. Durtami, a low-grade chief, was saved because one of his sisters was Khamami's favorite wife. He let Durtami slip off to the south after securing an informal nonaggression pact with him. Durtami was smart enough not to try any treachery toward his brother-in-law, who had emerged all-powerful in that area of Afghanistan.

Under normal conditions, Khamami would have gone as far as any man could before he would eventually run into other more powerful warlords who would defeat him. Then it would be his turn to dangle from a gallows. Surprisingly, it was a political event involving a superpower that catapulted Hassan Khamami into becoming one of the most powerful leaders in Afghanistan. In fact, he almost became a king.

Soviet ambitions led to the destruction of the Afghan monarchy in 1973. Mohammed Daoud became prime minister with the help of local Communists, but instead of moving into the Soviet sphere, he adopted a neutral attitude toward both the East and West. He didn't last long under those conditions, and was assassinated in order to be replaced by a leader who was more cooperative with Moscow's desires. All this was instigated by Soviet KGB agents who were experts in meddling in the affairs of weak foreign nations. Nur Mohammed Taraki was the reds' fair-haired boy, and he was chosen by the Kremlin to take over Afghanistan in their name. He ran the nation along Communist atheistic lines.

This was a bad mistake, since the population would barely tolerate a secular government, much less a godless one. They revolted against the new ruler, and this led to war with the central government. Units of the Soviet Army were quickly dispatched to put things right. After months of futile campaigning, the situation turned out to be the Russians' Vietnam. They abandoned the disaster after being bogged down in an unwinnable counterinsurgency war. Luckily for Warlord Hassan Khamami, he had fought on the side of the victorious rebels.

Khamami had been one of those local leaders chosen by America's CIA to supply and support. He received funding and weaponry from the American intelligence organization as he fought viciously against the Russians. By the time the conflict came to an end, his personal army was twice as strong as it had been before the conflict. The warlord used this power to overcome a few additional weaker neighbors. For several months, however, it appeared that he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Vast territories and a large fighting force are terribly expensive to maintain. Since his people were overwhelmingly poverty-stricken farmers, Khamami didn't have much of a tax base to finance his ambitions.

Then he got into opium poppy cultivation.

This stroke of luck was almost accidental, when a smuggler who had been operating before the war came back to renew his association with the people he'd dealt with in the past. Unfortunately for him they were all gone. Fortunately for Hassan Khamami, he was in the right place at the right time to fill the vacuum. Deals were made with the smuggler, and a group of farm villages were recruited and organized to begin a big-time cultivation and production business. Now great amounts of money rolled in to fill the warlord's coffers. His personal army was stronger and better structured than ever due to these unexpected, substantial opium revenues.