On the Afghan border, U.S. troops await the rockets
KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In the beginning, Specialist Jose Ortiz and his partner Private Pedro Velez were not even told which way Pakistan was.
"They didn't tell us a thing," says Ortiz, a 22-year-old American soldier based at a small camp on the eastern edge of Afghanistan, around 20 km (13 miles) from the Pakistan border.
"We figured it out from the rockets," he says, putting down a pair of binoculars in his observation post and pointing to the jagged Hindu Kush mountains in the middle distance, shimmering in the heat haze. He knows just where Pakistan is now.
"They basically rocket us from over there," he says. "From the other side of those mountains. We never see them. They're basically the invisible enemy."
The camp where Ortiz and Velez have spent the past 4- months on watch has been dubbed Rocket City for the number of missiles that rain down on it from the border region.
Although numbers have tapered off in recent weeks to just one or two a week, 'Rocket City' t-shirts are still in demand at the military shop on the base, a dusty collection of tents and low-rise buildings on the edge of a gravel air strip.
"One landed right there," says Ortiz, pointing to the camp's perimeter about 25 meters from the observation post, up a steep hill on the edge of the camp. "That made a pretty big noise, but most of the time they're way off target."
Velez, 21, drags on a cigarette and concurs.
"They're not really aiming. It's just fire and hope for these guys. They don't strike me as the smartest people."
That may or may not be the case, but the Taliban are still very much a threat. A much-vaunted winter offensive may not have occurred, but now spring has arrived and the passes through the mountains are more accessible, a renewed push is expected.
And with the possibility of a peace deal between Pakistan's new government and the Taliban-allied militants of Baitullah Mehsud on the northwest frontier of Pakistan, the U.S. military is braced for a fresh onslaught from over the border.
UPSURGE IN ATTACKS
"When I look at the map...my area of interest, the area that I'm concerned about, is on the other side of the border as well as on the Regional Command East (of Afghanistan)," U.S. Major General Jeffrey Schloesser told reporters on April 24.
"I would predict that we will see some level of increasing incidences of violence," he said.
In recent days there has been a minor upsurge in attacks in eastern Afghanistan, with a suicide bomber killing more than a dozen people south of the city of Jalalabad and a roadside bomb killing a U.S. soldier northeast of the capital, Kabul.
U.S. forces have also launched a major offensive in the south, where British troops are based, with Marines retaking the Taliban-controlled town of Garmsir, in the restive province of Helmand.
Khost and the surrounding province of the same name were once labeled "red" in as much as they were considered widely unsafe, with frequent attacks by the Taliban or militants allied to them.
Stepped-up U.S. activity in the area, along with the improving ability of the Afghan National Army and better local governance, have helped lift Khost onto President Hamid Karzai's 'green' list, but the risk of backsliding remains.
U.S. forces are hoping the arrival of around 700 French troops by August will help them maintain order along the long, jagged and unpredictable frontier.
In the meantime, Velez and Ortiz are keeping their eyes peeled.
