Troops in Afghanistan Motivated by 9/11

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Associated Press | September 11, 2006

KORANGAL VALLEY, Afghanistan - William Parsons was in high school when the twin towers fell. Now, the 19-year-old Army private sits atop an Afghan hill, eyes alert for al-Qaida and machine gun at the ready.

"The attacks are part of what made me decide to join," said the blue-eyed and sunburned Parsons, from Silver Spring, Md. "But this is really difficult. It's the hardest thing I have done in my life."

With images of the burning World Trade Center still vivid, Parsons recalled going into the recruitment office Sept. 27, 2005, straight out of high school to become the first in his family to join the U.S. Army.

Parsons and other soldiers from the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 10th Mountain Division are in eastern Kunar province's Korangal Valley, where U.S. commanders believe al-Qaida hatched the Sept. 11 plot.

Some soldiers at this mountaintop base are on their second deployment to Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in late 2001 for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Beginning on 9/11, "it became pretty clear that my professional duty coincided with a personal mission," said Lt. Col. Christopher Cavoli, commander of the division's 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment. Cavoli, now 42, was at the Pentagon when it was hit by a hijacked plane that day.

In the Afghan capital, Kabul, U.S. soldiers who witnessed the attack on the Pentagon paid tribute to victims of the terror strikes.

"I remember throughout the devastation, throughout the horrible day, I remember that we still hung our American flag, and that is what I want to be written in the history books," Staff Sgt. Alicia Watkins, 28, of Washington, D.C., said after delivering an emotional speech at the main U.S. base in Kabul.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, said political progress has been made here since the Taliban was forced out, and predicted that a recent surge in insurgent violence wouldn't derail reconstruction efforts.

"Against this progress, Afghanistan remains the target of international terrorists, Taliban extremists, narco-traffickers and a very determined criminal element," Eikenberry said. "(But) we will not leave Afghanistan until the Afghan people tell us our job is done."

President Hamid Karzai expressed solidarity with the United States, and praised the sacrifices of America's "sons and daughters" in rebuilding Afghanistan.

But on Kabul's streets, many Afghans grumbled that they had not seen much improvement since the Taliban was ousted, particularly in terms of security.

"We cannot see many changes in our lives," said Abdul Jabar, 43. "The salary of government employees is very low and the cost of living is very high. Thousands of people are jobless - even literate and educated people. You see hundreds of beggars."

Not everyone was pessimistic, however. Some said greater freedoms and improvements to infrastructure proved U.S.-led forces were better than the Taliban.

"We shouldn't forget that these (latest) achievements were all the result of the Sept. 11 incident in New York," said university student Ahmed Jawad, 23. "I was not hopeful five years ago, but I am optimistic for the future now. The only concern for me is the security problem."

In the Korangal Valley, U.S. soldiers still search deep ravines for signs of al-Qaida.

In late August, the army launched Operation Big Northern Wind to wipe out militants in the valley and expand government control - part of a drive by 20,000 coalition soldiers to secure the volatile frontier with Pakistan.

After waking Monday, Sgt. Ross Gilbert's mind was on the 9/11 attacks.

"I am glad about what we are doing," said Gilbert, 24, of San Diego. "Sometimes you think, when is it going to end? But then you have to remember that you are doing something good for the country."

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