A man in Kunday Sara, a village suburb of Khost City, argues with an interpreter and US troops for the installation of an IED barricade over the culvert in front of his house. Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment were questioning residents of the qalat about a fellow resident suspected of planting an IED 20 meters down the road. By the time they arrived, neighbors told troops the suspect had been taken into custody by officials from the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS). Some claimed the detainee was "an alright man," but offered that he very well could have been guilty since he is poor and has two wives to support.

American engineers have installed grates over most of the culverts that cross under the road, as insurgents like to crawl into them and plant IEDs that detonate directly under vehicles. The Americans explained to the man that since the culvert in front of his house didn't cross under the road, it was unlikely that it would merit a barricade. The civilian wasn't buying their argument, and wanted to take no chances that someone would use the space to plant explosives in front of his residence.

The bomb planted 20 meters from his house had prematurely detonated when an Afghan police patrol was in the area, damaging nothing except a tree. To the right of the stripped tree is one of the US-installed barricades covering the entrance to a culvert that passes under the road. Soldiers believed the purpose of the IED may have been to ambush security forces or engineers patrolling on foot or stopping to inspect the barricade.

Photos by Bill Ardolino for The Long War Journal.