WikiLeaks and War: Troops Soldier On as Hubbub Rages at Home

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GORMACH, Northern Afghanistan -- As Washington grappled this week with WikiLeaks, a small group of U.S. troops, Afghan soldiers and police and Norwegian military advisers quietly surrounded the village of Qal'a-i-wali, three miles north of this U.S. outpost deep in the Taliban country of northwest Afghanistan.

On Thursday, hours before Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained to the Pentagon press corps the "potentially severe and dangerous'' impact of WikiLeaks' release of classified military documents, the Taliban attacked with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. A brisk firefight ensued. Americans and Afghans closed in across the grassy hills. The Taliban retreated to defensive positions on a ridgeline and the Norwegians called in an air strike. A pair of F-16s put two 500-pound bombs on the Taliban and, minutes later, a third. Preliminary reports say six Taliban dead, no U.S. or Afghan casualties. Inside the village, Afghan troops found and disabled four IEDs.

A small battle, recorded as a modest success for the Afghan, Norwegian and American troopers who fought. Local villagers are likely to feel a bit more secure from Taliban intimidation; the Afghan police gained some self-confidence. The football, to use a metaphor favored by Lt. Col. Kyle Marsh, was moved a bit down the field.

"WikiLeaks? No, this is where it's at,'' said Marsh, referring to Thursday's skirmish at Qal'a-i-wali (pronounced kolly-wolly). He commands the 3^rd Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery Regiment of the 10^th Mountain Division's 1^s Brigade, whose soldiers -- cross-trained from artillery to infantry operations -- were involved in the fight.

There are two Afghan wars being fought: one on the political battlefields of Washington and allied capitals, and one in the heat and dust of Afghanistan itself, where the hard labor of war consumes all the available energy and attention.

Out here, U.S. and Afghan troops initiate firefights like the one at Qal'a-i-wali a couple of times a week, as they push deeper into traditional Taliban territory. The campaign requires careful planning and detailed coordination among allied and Afghan officers for joint operations and for the insertion of Afghan-led (and U.S.-financed) development projects that follow. For enlisted soldiers and commanders, that leaves little time for the war on the political front in Washington.

"Frankly, I haven't paid much attention to it,'' Marsh said of the WikiLeaks controversy.

At least he knew about it. More typical was the reaction of Capt. Jake Morano, who commands Alpha Battery. Its soldiers are deeply involved in combat operations, joint missions with Afghan police and mentoring local government officials. They're working flat-out, seven days a week. When I asked him what he thought about WikiLeaks, his face went blank.

"The big leak of classified traffic?" I prompted.

"Oh yeah, sure,'' he said vaguely, and left with a shrug.

Gates told reporters Thursday that the WikiLeaks release of tens of thousands of classified military traffic relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan carries consequences that are "potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world.''

A visibly angry Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that the leakers "might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.''

Gates said releasing documents that identify intelligence sources could endanger them. "Clearly, people are going to feel at risk'' if they cooperate with U.S. forces, he said.

He said the Pentagon is rethinking its practice of pushing intelligence once reserved for the high command down to the lower echelons, where it is more immediately useful -- and from where, it appears, the leaks came. "In the wake of this incident, it will be a real challenge to strike the right balance between security and providing our frontline troops the information they need,'' Gates warned.

Yet out here in northern Afghanistan, WikiLeaks seems to have less substance than the dust devils that occasionally whirl across the superheated landscape of windblown wheat and dusty herds of goats, sheep and camels.

Marsh and other officers said there has been no reaction -- no mention of WikiLeaks -- from Norwegians or other allies with whom they operate. The Afghans have not mentioned it. No sources have dried up. No one has backed away from working with U.S. forces. No instructions have come from Washington to restrict soldiers' access to intelligence.

It's not even a topic of banter over the mess hall dinner of beef stew and rice.

"Sometimes in Washington, things have a big strategic impact,'' said Marsh, a boyish West Pointer. "Out here,'' he said with relish, "it's day-to-day operations.''