Along Afghanistan's
porous border with Pakistan,
the U.S. Army is focused on reaching out to Afghan villagers and building local
institutions. Immense mountains and abject poverty stand out as obstacles to
success, but it is the human terrain that presents the greatest challenge.
In this mini-documentary, Lt. Jake Kerr, West Point Class '07, leads his motley "Combat Platoon" out of a remote outpost in the Dangam
District of eastern Afghanistan's
Kunar province. Kerr, 25, of Lake
Placid, N.Y.,
struggles to improve his skills as a peacemaker and diplomat even as the
Taliban and his own "warrior" alter-ego draw him deeper into combat.
As more platoon-sized U.S. Army bases in eastern Afghanistan are
abandoned over security fears, President Obama and the military's top brass
must scrutinize the hard work of "Combat Platoon" and others like it. In doing
so, they must balance the pros of having America's best foot forward,
protecting the Afghans in a classic interpretation of Gen. Petraeus'
counter-insurgency doctrine, while, at the same time, weighing the cons of
putting more fighters in harm's way in a conflict that has only fragile --
sometimes fickle -- support at home.
This look at life on
the front lines was filmed and narrated by Philip Smucker, the author of Al
Qaeda’s Great Escape: The Military and the Media on Terror’s Trail. (Potomac, 2004.) It is part of a longer documentary
project to accompany his forthcoming book, My Brother, My Enemy: America and the Battle of Ideas across the Islamic World.
(Prometheus, 2010.)
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