PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Acting on a tip, members of the 3rd Coy, 1st Kandak, Afghan National Army, alongside 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Lethal, uncovered a cache of munitions in a house in Zormat District, Paktya province, Feb. 27.
The tip given to the ANA was generated by the Guardians of Peace program, which allows local villagers to anonymously call Afghan National Security Forces with information about suspicious activity.
Before going to the suspected cache site, 2nd Lt. Malcolm Baraibar, 2nd Plt. leader and native of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Smith from Altoona, Iowa, and the platoon sergeant for 2nd Plt., conducted joint mission planning with the ANA executive officer, 1st Lt. Hasim.
“We’ve been working on map reading with the ANA,” said Smith. “So a lot of our focus was on planning the route.”
When they arrived to the village of Menjawar, the ANA and coalition forces split into two elements.
Baraibar and several ANA soldiers met with the village elders and were very direct with their message.
“We seem to constantly find things that can harm your villagers, ANSF and coalition forces when we come here,” Baraibar explained to the elders. He went on to encourage the villagers to use the Guardians of Peace program.
“We can’t change what’s in the village if we don’t know what’s happening,” he told them.
The second element, lead by 1st Lt. Pallawan, a platoon leader for the 3rd Coy, and Smith, searched the home of the reported weapons cache.
After the ANA performed an initial sweep of the home, coalition forces were allowed in and scanned the interior of the home.
Their search uncovered several boxes of illegal ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons.
The ANA gathered and catalogued all the evidence then questioned and detained two individuals who were brought to the ANA compound.
Acting on tips generated through the Guardians of Peace program during the last few weeks, Company C and the 3rd Coy have been methodically and effectively clearing eastern Zormat of enemy weapons, an effort intended to keep violence to a minimum in the coming months.