US soldiers on patrol in Khost province, sots

• published: 21 Jul 2015
• views: 1

1. US soldiers patrolling in Mandozai district of Khost province 2. Tracking shot of soldiers patrolling 3. Soldiers in long grass 4. Soldiers on foot patrol 5. Close-up of soldier holding gun 6. US soldier and Afghan police patrolling 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) 1st Lieutenant Shane Oravsky, US military commander 101 Airborne division: "We are just checking the area some of the houses around here to see if there is anything suspicious and to help maintain security in the area." 8. Afghan police and US soldiers greeting local Afghan 9. Close-up of US soldier holding gun 10. Various of Afghan police and US soldiers searching houses 11. US soldier guarding while Afghan women sit during house searching 12. Various of US soldiers checking local Afghans, recording data 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) First Lieutenant Shane Oravsky, US military commander 101 Airborne Division: "They spray the piece of paper that their hands are touching and if it shows on any of those colours over there of we know off they touched on like TNT, DNT, different types of explosives, so this is one more piece of evidence we can use against them if in fact they are a suspect. So right now my guys are going through spraying their hands to get that evidence, they are also flashing their eyes to put their retinas in the system, which can later identify them if we need to contact these guys later on." 14. Various of US soldiers on foot patrol 15. Wide of US soldiers standing on hill top STORYLINE: US soldiers from 101 Airborne Division have been patrolling in Mandozai district of Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan. AP Television footage showed US soldiers searching properties in the area and making records of local Afghans' personal data. First Lieutenant Shane Oravsky, the US military commander of 101 Airborne division told AP Television that they were checking the houses "to see if there is anything suspicious and to help maintain security in the area." US troop levels in Afghanistan now top 32-thousand, the highest number of American forces in the country since the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban. The rise in force levels has been in response to an increasingly violent insurgency that was spreading into new parts of the country. The top American commander in Afghanistan has requested three more brigades, about 7-thousand 500 more troops and the Pentagon has promised that more US troops will be sent to Afghanistan next year. Following the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, the US had fewer than 10-thousand troops in the country, and no real troop presence in the volatile south. But troop levels have been rising steadily the last two years as violence has increased. Unlike in Iraq, where the US provides the vast majority of troops, a 40-nation military alliance in Afghanistan contributes half of the overall military force, though only British, Canadian and Dutch troops engage in heavy fighting. Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since 2001. The UN says more than 8-thousand people died in insurgency related violence, including more than 1-thousand 500 civilians. According to a top US general insurgent violence in Afghanistan could reach record levels this year as militants increasingly target police and development projects. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2c445a2bb7c4676ec8e4cf5dd55c9b5b Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork