Operation Rock Avalanche (click here for photos)
Lt. Matt Piosa through an Army translator told the village elders that he could offer them food or assistance, but that they needed to tell him where the Taliban were hiding. The villagers pointed to their dead and said there were no Taliban elements in the village. (ABC News/Vanity Fair)
Capt. Daniel Kearney was brought to town in a desperate attempt to quell the tensions between the troops and the village elders. But the meeting was not a success, and the 2nd Platoon later learned that the elders had declared a jihad against them. (ABC News/Vanity Fair)
Dramatic new video shows how American soldiers in Afghanistan are being set up for deadly ambushes after trying to make peace with village elders in Taliban-controlled areas.
The effort to win the "hearts and minds" of village elders in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province in Afghanistan has proved to be a dangerous one for U.S. troops, with elders often suspected of tipping Taliban fighters to the soldiers' schedule and whereabouts.
The video to be broadcast tonight on ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson" and "Nightline" was shot by "Vanity Fair" contributing editor Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington embedded with the 2nd Platoon, Battle (B) company of the 173rd Airborne on a joint assignment for ABC News and "Vanity Fair" magazine....
