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Confidence Delta was an operational sector of the United States military's Operation Confidence hearts-and-minds mission in eastern Afghanistan. The sector was named for Delta Base, a US Army forward operating base (FOB) located across the Khost highway from the village of Awi. The sector was initially dormant, with the US Army sending companies to visit Awi and win the hearts and minds of the locals. The first forms of insurgent resistance materialized in the form of IED attacks, and, several weeks into the operation, the Americans also destroyed an opium plantation just outside of Awi. On 6 May 2012, Awi switched its allegiance to the Anti-Coalition Militia. Throughout June, amid a major Taliban offensive in the region, fighting broke out between the American garrison of FOB Delta and Taliban cadres moving into the area, and, on 1 July 2012, an American company was destroyed in a Taliban ambush between Awi and FOB Delta. The Americans succeeded in regaining Awi's allegiance, but it remained a hotspot for insurgent activity, and the roads around Awi were rife with IEDs and insurgent movement. On 3 July, the Taliban destroyed FOB Delta in a surprise attack, forcing a group of Black Hawk helicopters, Lima Squadron, to evacuate the base's US defenders to Awi itself. The American soldiers found Taliban flags flying from the village on their return, as the destruction of FOB Delta - the first American FOB in the Confidence operation to fall - had convinced many local Afghans that the Taliban would be victorious. The American company remained in Awi in spite of its Taliban allegiance, launching IED-clearing operations to make the area more safe and eventually win back the locals. However, a convoy of Husky mine-sweepers, Mike Squadron, was ironically destroyed in an IED attack on the Lashkargah-Awi Highway just before crossing a river bridge, further complicating the US' goals. The Buffalo MRAP squad which it was escorting ultimately made it to the south bank and founded FOB Juliet at the site of the destroyed FOB Delta, although the operational sector name remained the same. At the same time, UNICEF and other agencies pooled resources together in an effort to step up aid responses in the Operation Confidence sector, promising to reach out to the disaffected locals. Taliban resistance still continued, as a Taliban cadre damaged a Black Hawk carrying US reinforcements to the new base, and inflicted heavy losses on the American soldiers shortly after they disembarked. By then, several cadres had arrived to threaten FOB Juliet, so the Americans sent out a Stryker armored vehicle to counterattack against the Taliban. The Stryker obliterated a Taliban cadre hiding in the trees across the highway from FOB Juliet before returning to base. However, by 5 August, Awi had once again decided to fly the flag of Afghanistan as the result of successful US hearts-and-minds operations in the area.

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