Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the Fort Lewis, Washington-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer.

The latest injuries came Monday night, and the latest death three days ago.

"You all have had a very tough time," especially at the start of the tour, Gates told members of the 800-soldier unit. "You came into an area totally controlled by the Taliban. You fought for a critical battle space, you bled for it and now you own it."

He told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be "at the tip of the spear."

Brigade commander Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann explained one of its missions: securing a highway that locals use to bring crops to market in Kandahar.

"If people can't move freely on the highway," Neumann said, "they'll never feel connected to their government and like they are out from under the thumb of the Taliban."

Neumann said his troops also protect the local population from bandits and extortionists who try to waylay travelers and exact illegal tolls.

He said it can be hard to measure success when it means subtle changes of heart and intention among the locals instead of something dramatic, like taking a city.

"The metric that stares you in the face is our casualties," Neumann said.

Gates later walked a dusty street in Now Zad, where Marines pushed out the Taliban last year with help from some of the first reinforcements ordered by President Barack Obama last year.

The Pentagon chief stopped to speak to shopkeepers who are among about 2,500 people who have returned to the city. Now Zad, once the second largest city in Helmand province, sat empty for four years, save for U.S., NATO and Taliban fighters.

"This place was a ghost town, a no-go zone," Gates said as he thanked Marines for an operation that served as a model for this year's battle in nearby Marjah.