For five years, heroic U.S. Servicemen and their allies have hunted Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists who caused the deaths of 3,000 Americans in a single day. Special Forces Captain Jason Amerine orchestrates a bombing campaign that forces the Taliban to surrender Kandahar and escape into the hills. 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division soldiers kill or capture hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Dozens more are rooted out in the birthplace of the Taliban, the Oruzgan Province in south-central Afghanistan. The on-going search for enemy combatants in the mountains of Afghanistan has brought both battlefield successes, and heartbreaking tragedies. This is the story of the gun battles from that search--harrowing, deadly shootouts.

• Erik Thompson