Zerok

Mr. Fairbairn was killed Saturday while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan when insurgents attacked Combat Outpost Zerok using small arms and indirect fire.

Today’s Photos: July 7 2009

Gibson summoned the Zerok elders, pulled Mr. Taday into a room and yelled at him for 20 minutes, pausing only so the interpreter could translate the obscenity-laced tirade into Pashto.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

Gibson's boss, Lt.Col. Michael Fenzel, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, set the snare hours before the elders arrived at the Zerok district center.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

In a private meeting at the adjacent American combat outpost, the colonel laid out the case against Mr. Taday before a few trusted Afghan officials, including both the chief of intelligence and the head of shura for Paktika Province, where Zerok is located.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

- Afghan troop convoys near the Zerok outpost, leaving a pair of Afghan soldiers dead.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

Insurgents then launched rockets at the Zerok outpost, but missed their target by a couple of hundred yards.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

M.chael M. Phillips One of the elders at Zerok shura.

Friendly Fire 2007

Three days later, Mr. Taday, his son and three bodyguards traveled from Zerok to a nearby town where he met with the local head of the Afghan intelligence service, according to a U.S. intelligence report.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007

M.chael M. Phillips Soldiers at the Zerok combat outpost fire an illumination round on the orders of Capt.

Friendly Fire 2007

"You say you're in charge and that there is security in Zerok, but there's not," Capt.

Afghan Tradition Masks Political Ambush 2007