Battle in "the Evilest Place"

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Washington later complained to Islamabad about the firing at Shkin. Days later, an elite troop of Pakistani forces attacked several al-Qaeda safe houses across the border from the U.S. firebase. Eight al-Qaeda fighters were killed — including some Chechens and Arabs — and 18 were captured, according to Pakistani officials.

Despite Pakistan's counterattack, the U.S. soldiers brace themselves for further assaults. They complain that Afghanistan has become a forgotten war. "Back home, nobody knows what's going on over here, how bad it is," says one. On a patrol through a hilly danger zone known as Saturn, where two soldiers were killed in an ambush early this year, the Americans are vigilant. A humvee driver scans the track for hidden explosive devices, while his top gunner trains his eye on a forested slope. One hand rests on a machine gun, the other on a pistol. "You know," says Sergeant Story, "my boy asked me on the phone, 'How many bad guys are over there, Daddy? You've been gone a long, long time.'" The fact is, this war isn't ending anytime soon.