6th Marine Regiment

Gola Akar, a black-bearded farmer, did not seem certain whether a monthlong Marine assault here had improved or retarded his business prospects. On the one hand, the Marines killed or drove out Taliban fighters who had commandeered his mud-wall compound. But the fighting came at the height of the poppy harvest, costing Akar thousands of dollars in drug profits. "Since you came, things are better," Akar told 1st Lt. Shaun Miller, a slender, easygoing Marine who led a patrol past his compound one recent morning.

"No Taliban here," the police chief said. "No, never," the sub-governor added. "This is the safest place in all Afghanistan." Marine 1st Lt. Jeremy Wilkinson, the snuff-dipping commander of Whiskey Company, was skeptical. Every week, U.S. troops are ambushed by gunmen in these hooded passes along the border with Pakistan. "Well, everyone says there aren't any bad guys around," the lieutenant told the two ostensible allies as they squatted on their haunches, stolid and implacable.