U.S. troops: Ramadan isn't stopping insurgents

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WILSON, Afghanistan - "May you have a blessed Ramadan," reads a poster greeting U.S. troops outside a base mess tent. It refers to Islam's holiest month, a time of good deeds, prayer and purification of the spirit through sunrise-to-sunset fasting.

But on the western approaches to the strategic city of Kandahar, neither side is taking a spiritual timeout from the war.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are attempting to root out Taliban fighters still entrenched in about a fifth of the Arghandab Valley.

The division's 502nd Infantry Regiment, preparing for a major assault in Taliban-controlled Zhari district, stages probes into villages and grape fields sown with booby traps and IEDs. Along Highway 1, a lifeline connecting Kandahar to the capital, Kabul, the insurgents are launching daily attacks against supply convoys.

"Ramadan? Every time you step outside the wire, the war is real. We're surrounded," says Lt. Douglas Meyer, commanding a platoon at Ghundy Gar, a desolate, sun-seared hilltop outpost ringed by Zhari's deceptively bucolic landscape.

According to Islamic tradition, the gates of hell are closed and those who die stand a greater chance of entering heaven during Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar year when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Radical Islamists believe martyrdom during this time is a guaranteed ticket to paradise. They see violence as a way of ridding the world of impurities, including U.S. troops in Afghanistan and other infidels.

Beginning with Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in 624, Ramadan has often witnessed bloodshed. Egypt and Syria began their 1973 war with Israel during the holy month, and violence in Iraq spiked almost every year since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Washington's decision not to interrupt its 2001 bombing in Afghanistan sparked harsh criticism among the world's Muslims.

Unlike some Ramadans past, the level of violence so far has not escalated significantly since the month began Aug. 11, although military operations haven't slowed down either.

U.S. and other international deaths appear to have dropped this month from record levels in June, when 60 Americans died, and July, when 66 were killed. More than halfway through August, the U.S.-led command has reported 17 American deaths and 28 for the entire international force. At least seven Americans have been killed since Ramadan began.

Clearly, however, the month of fasting has an effect on the way Afghans fight, be they Taliban or Afghan security forces.

"The jihadists tend to get more excited during Ramadan, but they're fasting so the sugar levels start to decline by noon. Most of the fighting is done in the morning," says Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, the British commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.