In Afghan fight,US forces move into remote areas

Slowly,almost imperceptibly,the US military has settled into a campaign for scattered villages and bits of terrain that few people beyond their immediate environs have heard of.

If the US-led fight against the Taliban was once a contest for influence in well-known and conventionally defined areas the capital and large cities,main roads,the border with Pakistan,and a handful of prominent valleys and towns today it has become something else.

Slowly,almost imperceptibly,the US military has settled into a campaign for scattered villages and bits of terrain that few people beyond their immediate environs have heard of. In and near places like this village in Ghazni Province,US units have pushed their counterinsurgency doctrine and rules for waging war into freshly contested areas of rural Afghanistan even as their senior officers have decided to back out of other remote areas,like the Pech,Korangal and Nuristan valleys,once deemed priorities.

Depending on point of view,this shift which resulted from both the current military leaderships reconsideration of past commanders decisions and the troop buildup ordered by President Obama is either an operational achievement or grounds for exasperation.

Obamas Afghan buildup shows signs of success. But in the rank and file,there has been little triumphalism as the administrations plan has crested. With the spring thaw approaching,officers and enlisted troops alike say they anticipate another bloody year. Many soldiers express doubts about prospects of the larger campaign.C J CHIVERS