 From Soldiers Radio and Television, this is the Army Today, a daily feature from around the globe. We saw guys up in the hills, so we were a little suspicious so we watched them, and they took out sticks and started beating on the trees. Captain Jim Perkins says 10 years in the Army and his college degree never taught him things like this. And what they do is they take the pine cones, roast them in a fire, and then get the nuts out of the inside of the pine cones, and it's very expensive and they're sold for a great deal of money in Pakistan. It's also a big source of Taliban taxation. The location is a remote part of western Patika province in eastern Afghanistan. The village is Marzakh, a Taliban R&R site for insurgents returning from Pakistan. Last winter, it all changed. They came to us and said, we want you to put this program here. Taliban are gone for the winter, please come. The program is the ALP, Afghan Local Police, a government and ISAF initiative, employing neighborhood men to defend their towns and villages against their enemies. ALP is a program based on national collaboration and local partnership. Partnership in Afghanistan is taking place on all levels, national, provincial, district, and even here in the villages. It's not been easy, but in conjunction with Afghan security forces, Perkins troops and training, Marzakh's ALP is coming together. According to Perkins, Marzakh's ALP program is a tale of partnerships, relationships and learning. It's a phenomenal program and it's made a lot of success for us. That's the Army Today from Soldiers Radio and Television in Washington, D.C.