Written by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Ryan DeCamp, RC-East PAO 18 January 2012
PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – As far as Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team is concerned, the lives of a handful of teammates are in far better shape thanks to the work of the Afghan police.
The Afghan Local and National Police around Orgun in eastern Paktika Province partnered with the PRT on a mission designed to hold a meeting in a remote village to discuss creating new ALP stations, Jan. 4.
Paktika team members came across an improvised explosive device, or roadside bomb, in the middle of a road they were set to travel on. Officers from the ALP saw clues that indicated insurgents had placed a bomb and cleared the area before anyone could get hurt.
“I never saw it, I had my eyes focused on the three people the police stopped,” said Staff Sgt. Trident Villanueva, Paktika PRT Security Forces team leader. “I was the closest American to the bomb when the police found it. I was only about 50 feet or so away.”
At least one other U.S. soldier was just a few feet further away than Villanueva from the bomb, in another direction. He didn’t see it either and the soldiers on the mission all credit the Afghan Local Police and Afghan National Police for finding the bomb before it went off.
After the mission, many of the soldiers who had an opportunity to see the IED site after it was destroyed said they never would have seen the bomb had the ALP and ANP not found it.
“I’ve been working as a soldier for a long time,” said Azizullah Azizi, Paktika Province’s head of ALP who was on the Jan. 4 mission. He’s most commonly referred to as Commander Aziz, or ‘Karwan’ among his officers in the province.
“We know which areas are dangerous and which areas are not. The roads that we think are dangerous or might have IEDs, most of the time we clear them. On that day, I saw that the mud on the road was on the side of the road so I was suspicious.”
A U.S. intelligence official on the mission said it was the type of bomb where all someone needed to do was drive over it with a truck to set it off. He later added that the IED likely had 40 to 50 pounds of explosives in it.
Sergeant Villanueva is well aware of what that amount of bomb making material can do. He received explosives training while working with the Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash. The sergeant also built bombs for aircraft while in the U.S. Air Force.
“If it had gone off at the right time, it would have destroyed the mine roller and could have given the four people inside that truck minor injuries like dizziness or concussion-like symptoms,” Villanueva said. “They would have walked away though. The armored trucks we use are designed to take that kind of a blast.”
A mine roller is an attachment on the first vehicle in a convoy designed to detect and set off IEDs in front of the armored truck so they don’t go off under it. It helps reduce the damage to a vehicle and protect those inside the truck it’s attached to.
However, had that explosion occurred, those not in the safety of armored trucks could have had a much worse experience. Additionally, civilian cars or pickup trucks driving over the bomb could have been completely destroyed. The day’s mission was intended to meet with a village about a 5-minute drive from where the IED was placed.
The PRT and Afghan police had teams of soldiers and police officers outside the armored trucks at the time the bomb was found.
“I have been working with the PRT and coalition forces since 2001 and they’ve been helping us with everything, not just against the terrorists, but building roads, schools and other things we need,” Azizi said. “Now, it’s not like it was before, where people used to come to the government by force. They (Americans) came all this way to help us and it’s our duty as Afghans to step ahead of them and help them the most we can.”
Not only did his team find the bomb, but they took the lead with determining who was responsible for the IED after his officers found it. The police questioned three men found where the IED was planted. They later arrested one of the three in relation to the bomb.
Villanueva is an infantryman from the New Jersey Army National Guard and has worked three years as a Jersey City Police Officer, just a few miles from New York City. He said he appreciates what the ALP provide when they go out on missions and that he has learned a lot from working with them over the past six months.
“I was very grateful their eyes and experience were better than mine that day; I praise them a lot for that,” Villanueva said. “The ANP and ALP take pride in what they do. They’re protecting their area, their village, district and province; seeing that has definitely opened my eyes.”
“I believe the ALP is very important to providing security to the district. The things they’ve experienced, what they’ve done and who they’ve worked with in the past have definitely helped me and the rest of my team operate at a more successful level.”
(c) CJTF-1
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