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.