post script about the Korengal valley mentioned in the report above and published Sunday 11 April 2010

"After years of sustained fighting and casualties with little evident progress, the US military closed Korangal Outpost on April 14, 2010.

Military officials speculate that their presence in the valley may have actually created Taliban sympathies among the previously neutral Korangalis, who have rejected American aid and have wished the Americans to leave.

New York Times

"Occasionally a Taliban or Al Qaeda member was transiting through that location, but the Korangalis were by no means part of the insurgency," he said. "Unfortunately, now they are, because they were willing to accept any help to get us out."
Maj. James Fussell, a former Army Special Forces soldier