The Taliban axis of evil

Telegraph:

It was only after the sharp crack of rounds split the air left and right that the soldiers mentioned that we had entered the area they call the “Axis of Evil.”

A long rattle of a machine gun was accompanied by the distinct thump of AK47 gunfire sending 100 bullets hissing through the air.

For a split second as I leapt into the inviting 5ft deep water-filled ditch to my right I wondered whether I was doing the right thing. Sometimes the Taliban opened fire knowing that troops would dive into the nearest cover where they had planted a pressure pad IED (improvised explosive device).

To my right I smelt cordite as a soldier aimed shots at a Taliban by the corner of the compound as rounds drove towards the line of 15 soldiers from 2nd Bn The Yorkshire Regiment accompanied by a similar number of eager Afghan Army troops.

“It’s what we come down here to do, to disrupt the enemy and every time this is what happens,” said Cpl Jamie Ismay, 23, in between firing rounds.

As he spoke news what passed down the line that the Taliban were readying for another assault.

We had set out on patrol two hours earlier to strike at the enemy after an attack near our base the night before. Initially the countryside created a bucolic atmosphere with dark orange leaves falling onto freshly ploughed fields.

It felt impossible that in a land of such rural beauty a menacing insurgency could be raging but it is also an area of poverty that perhaps feeds the ill-will towards Western troops.

Earlier we had passed a man pushing three of his young children in a wooden wheelbarrow accompanied by his veiled wife hugging a crying baby.

But thoughts of engaging with the population where far from our minds as the order went down the line to leave the safety of the ditch to cut off the enemy.

...

They have more contact with the enemy, but fortunately the Taliban are not good shots and the AK-47 is not a precision weapon. They do get to disrupt the Taliban, but neither side does much more than pop off several rounds.