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U.S. troops push deeper into Afghanistan
A U.S. Marine interacts with children as he patrols Garmsir district in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Friday.
NAWA (Afghanistan): U.S. Marines moved into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan on Friday, meeting little resistance as they tried to win over local chiefs on the second day of the biggest American military operation here since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.
One Marine was killed and several others wounded on Thursday, when some 4,000 Marines launched the operation in Helmand province — a remote area that is at the centre of the country’s illegal opium cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency.
So far, however, there has been little resistance from the Taliban, according to a military spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier.
In the east, meanwhile, U.S. troops and personnel continued looking for an American soldier believed captured by insurgents on Tuesday.
U.S. troops were brought in from nearby areas to help with the search, which included helicopters and Afghan Army support, officials said Thursday.
Britain’s Defence Ministry said a roadside bomb Wednesday in Helmand killed two soldiers, including the most senior U.K. officer to have died in combat in Afghanistan. Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe was the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised Lt.-Gen. Thorneloe as someone “I admire and someone who will be missed by all his colleagues in the armed forces for the leadership he gave, the bravery he showed and the professionalism at all times he exhibited.”
The aim of the operation in Helmand is not simply to kill Taliban fighters but to win over the local population, Capt. Pelletier said — a difficult task in a region where foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
“We are not worried about the Taliban, we are not focused on them. We are focused on the people,” said Capt. Pelletier. “It is important to engage with the key leaders, hear what they need most and what are their priorities.”
The offensive along 90 kilometres of Taliban-controlled areas in southern Afghanistan will test the Obama administration’s new strategy of holding territory to let the Afghan government sink roots in rural areas where Taliban influence is strong. Taking ground from the Taliban in Afghanistan has always proved easy. Keeping it and ensuring the government’s presence has been the difficult part. The military challenges are compounded by the fact that the area is the world’s largest producer of opium, and drug profits feed the insurgency and corrupt government officials.
Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 percent of the world’s production of opium, and Helmand alone is responsible for about half that amount.
Haji Akhtar Mohammad, from Gereshk village now living in Helmand’s capital of Lashkar Gah, said the U.S.-led force will not have community support in the region weary of any foreign interference.
“It is difficult to tell who is Taliban and who is civilians,” said Mr. Mohammad. “They all have the same face, same beard and same turban,” he said. “It is very difficult to defeat them.” — AP
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