[Carol Lin, Cnn Anchor:] Well, it's been more than two years since U.S. forces began scouring Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden. And in that time, he has released a number of taped messages. One this week offers a truce with European countries if they pull out of the war on terror. Now U.S. soldiers are going village to village, determined to find him. And our Nic Robertson rides along on these dangerous hunts.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Correspondent:] In the minutes before a remote mountainside raid, company Commander Antony Gibbs explains why the repeat visit.
[Commander Antony Gibbs:] Oh, he's the guy that everyone in this area says responsible for the ID attacks along this road.
[Robertson:] Soon clear, the man they hold responsible for the roadside bombs, Kalin Gul, has fled.
[Gibbs:] He hasn't killed any Americans. He's only killed Afghanis.
[Robertson:] The suspect's father giving the U.S. troops no help.
[Gibbs:] Now the story is we don't have a brother named Kalin Gul. It's Sadeh Gul and he runs a welding machine in Kabul.
[Robertson:] Gibbs pulls his men out. His three day mission to deny al Qaeda and their supporters territory moves on. [on camera]: This hunt is going deep into the Afghan mountains, up some of the most remote valleys, where there's no running water, very little electricity, and even less law and order. [voice-over]: But the mission here a few days' walk from the Pakistan border, is not just to round up bad guys.
[Unidentified Female:] If it's starting from scratch no one's been here, then want to ask them about things that they need and show concern for them, hopefully build rapport. And they might be able to give us information in turn.
[Robertson:] Gibbs' platoon leader Jonas Anisgasty beings the painstaking process.
[Unidentified Female:] How many students go there?
[Robertson:] Questions about schools, mosques, and health clinics. Slowly coming around to al Qaeda.
[Unidentified Female:] How is the enemy? How does he think that they operate in this area without us seeing them or without them seeing them?
[Robertson:] Building a detailed picture of villages and tribal affiliations now seen as critical in the defeating of anti-coalition forces or
[Acm. Unidentified Male:] This is a level one insurgency that we're fighting. And so, the bigger part of the battle on a day to day basis is winning the support of the people, because when we win the support of the people, they no longer have the ACMs no longer have sanctuary here.
[Unidentified Male:] Well, they say that now I don't have anything to say, but
[Robertson:] In another village, Gibbs' other platoon commander tries a different technique to get information.
[Unidentified Male:] Where's that radio?
[Robertson:] A radio given to a storekeeper, his identity hidden to guard against retribution.
[Unidentified Male:] Well, you're not necessarily giving them a radio to try to get information. You hope that he wants to give you information based on own his merits and to help his country out.
[Robertson:] Over cross legged lunches like this and visits to villages, Gibbs says he is making progress, but with more resources might be closer to bin Laden.
[Gibbs:] You look up in these mountains and you realize how many places there are to hide.
[Robertson:] Catching Saddam Hussein took timely accurate intelligence. And so it is here in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden. Even with high tech electronic eavesdropping equipment, it is likely missions like this that will turn up the information necessary to capture the al Qaeda leader. Nic Robertson, CNN, the Surrano Valley, Afghanistan.
[Lin:] And good news, today is homecoming day for some U.S. troops.
[Unidentified Male:] Can't believe we're here. Yes, it's like you said, it's been a very long time and like we're actually stays here. So it's great.
[Lin:] Awesome. Still to come, a year of duty, how they narrowly escaped a longer deployment in Iraq. But first, a sexual predator walks free from a California jail. How did it happen? The effort to find him, up next.