The U.S. contingent was made up entirely of elite fighters, but they totaled fewer than 100. Even combined with their Afghan allies, they were outnumbered by the Taliban, with no further reinforcements close at hand.
Although Farah is one of the biggest Afghan provinces, it contains only a relatively light contingent of U.S. troops, far fewer than the Western forces in neighboring Helmand province.
"Farah used to be quiet. This was where the Taliban came for R & R," Nicholson said. "But fighting in the east is pushing the insurgents west, and we're having more and more difficulties out here."
That's a common pattern in combat across the country: insurgents being dislodged in one place, then regrouping elsewhere, often where foreign forces are thin.
Back at the Farah base, the atmosphere grew taut as the day dragged on. Radios crackling by his side, 26-year-old Army Spc. Michael Richardson, just three days on the job, dispatched a medevac chopper and a "chase bird," both Black Hawk helicopters, to pick up two wounded soldiers, one an Afghan, the other an American.
But as the helicopters approached Garani, the air darkened: A sandstorm was blowing in.
Richardson's heart sank as the pilots advised him that visibility was too poor to land.
"There was tension," he said. "You know there's people wounded, and you need to get to them. But you prepare yourself mentally for what's coming, you do the job."
It was an hour before the medevac helicopter was able to put down safely and pick up the two wounded men.
At some point in the late afternoon or early evening, the decision was made to call in airstrikes, a measure most often taken when Western commanders believe an outpost or a field contingent is in danger of being overrun.
Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai, say the tactic is overused in populated areas. But the Obama administration has rejected Karzai's calls for an end to airstrikes, saying they are an essential part of the Western arsenal.
The aircraft summoned to Garani, two F-18 fighter jets and a B-1 bomber that U.S. officials said were based outside Afghanistan, took aim at three targets. In strikes that came about 20 minutes apart, three village landmarks, the mosque and two large compounds, were hit, residents said.
Citing an ongoing internal military investigation, U.S. officials declined to detail how the targets were chosen, or exactly when the decision was made, but said there had been insurgent fire from all three locations.
