ISAF Joint Command
Courtesy Story
Date: 03.09.2010
Posted: 03.09.2010 02:57

KABUL, Afghanistan - During the search the joint team captured a Haqqani commander, the military leader of a substantial number of fighters responsible for planning and executing attacks against coalition forces throughout the district. Several other insurgents were captured during the search.

The assault force also found several automatic rifles.

In the Washir District of Helmand province an Afghan-international security force searched a compound in a rural area, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the joint force captured a Taliban commander, responsible for multiple attacks against coalition forces and Afghan citizens, and a few other insurgents.

In a separate Helmand operation, a joint security force stopped a vehicle near Gorazan in the Washir district after intelligence indicated militant activity. During a search of the vehicle the force detained two suspected insurgents.

In the Garm Ser District of Helmand, an Afghan-international security force searched a compound outside the village of Fatehjang Ziarat after intelligence information indicated militant activity.

During a search of the buildings the combined force detained several suspected insurgents.

In Kandahar last night, a joint security force searched a compound in the town of Sonjaray, in the Zharay District after intelligence information indicated militant activity. While searching the compound the force detained a few suspected insurgents for further questioning.

In other operations yesterday, a joint security force found a weapons cache in an abandoned compound in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand. The cache contained 15 rocket-propelled grenade warheads and 1,100 rounds of 7.62mmammunition. The cache was destroyed.

Another joint force in the same district searched a suspected insurgent site and found 25 bags of ammonium chloride and various Afghan documents. Afghans in the area said the shop had been closed for several months. The ammonium chloride was destroyed and the documents were seized.

No Afghan civilians were harmed during these operations.

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Story by Ian Graham
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 09:38

WASHINGTON -

Army Brig. Gen. Gary Patton, the deputy commanding general for programs with Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, shared his insights during a March 6 "DoDLive" bloggers roundtable on how U.S. and NATO forces are supporting the training and growth of Afghan security forces.

Patton has direct oversight of Afghan army programs and is responsible for generating and sustaining them. By integrating infrastructure construction, equipment procurement and training contracts, Patton said, he provides the Afghan army the tools it needs to reach self-sufficiency.

"What I'm doing is generating the new units with equipment, with basing, and combine that with the training piece," Patton said.

Patton used his experiences in Iraq -- comparing his observations from deployments early in the war and deployments later in the war -- to illustrate the kind of growth he wants to see in Afghan self-sufficiency.

During a deployment in Ramadi, Iraq, Patton said, he didn't have much support in the form of Iraqi military or police officers. While deployed to Tikrit during his second Iraq tour in 2006 and 2007, he said, he saw quite a bit more support from Iraqis. Now, he said, his mission is to help Afghanistan move to a point of self-sufficiency the way he saw it happen in Iraq.

So far, he said, significant progress is evident toward that goal. In eastern Afghanistan, 82nd Airborne Division soldiers are embedded with the 201st and 203rd Afghan army corps. The units live, eat, sleep and work together in the field as one combined force.

"The 82nd and their subordinate units literally are embedded and intermingled with their Afghan partners at every level, starting with the corps, the brigade and all the way down to the platoon," Patton said. "It's a pretty remarkable and efficient form of partnership. We're generating Afghan army units at a pretty rapid pace."

But no matter how well recruiting is going, Patton noted, growing the Afghan army will fall short of its goal without experienced officers. That's where partnerships such as the one in which the 82nd is engaged come in handy, he said.

"What you don't get when you generate units at such a rapid pace is leader development, because it takes a lot longer to develop a leader rather than a soldier from a recruit," he said. "What you get from the partnership and combined action is the role-modeling of the U.S. soldiers and U.S. Marines. ... You get leadership by example. A big part of leader development of our Afghans is just being connected at the hip with their coalition partner."

A major way U.S. and NATO forces are helping to create a sustainable military in Afghanistan is to take an "Afghan-first approach" to supplying the Afghan army, Patton said. First, they'll direct funds to Afghan industry to build the army.

"We're going to invest about $1.5 billion in the local economy this year, in buying sustainment and equipment items for the Afghan army and police," Patton said. "We're buying [equipment] on the local economy, and what that does is create jobs."

That money will buy things such as boots, poncho liners, blankets, web gear, socks and T-shirts. Patton said a recent review of contracts found that, for example, six out of seven U.S. and NATO boot contracts had required boots to be imported.

As a result, the general said, those contracts were eliminated and resources were directed to bolster the Afghan manufacturing industry. This assists in the mission, he explained, because it gives the local population confidence in the way their country is run.

"Now, all of the boots for the Afghan army will be made in Afghanistan by Afghans," he said. "It's important, because ... that's a lot of jobs. An Afghan that has a job is less likely to be an Afghan getting recruited by an insurgent or the Taliban."

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs

Story by Jim Garamone
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 07:44

KABUL -
Ambassador Mark Sedwill, who served as British ambassador to Afghanistan, said the operation is different from others in three basic ways. The first, he said, is that from its inception, NATO's regional commander, British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, and his Afghan counterparts planned the operation "from the end-game backwards."

"And the end-game is the civilian delivery of governance and development," Sedwill said.

The second difference, Sedwill said, is the integration of Afghan and coalition forces. The operation was authorized and led by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his team, the people of Helmand wanted the operation to proceed, far more Afghan troops are on the ground, and the Afghan government has led the effort totally, he noted.

The third difference is the integration between the provincial and national governments, he said. National ministries have been intimately involved with the planning and allocation of resources to the effort, Sedwill said. Karzai traveled to Helmand and held a meeting with the elders of the province yesterday.

As the effort in Helmond transitions into the "hold and build" portion of the strategy, some quick projects already have begun. Bazaars, schools and clinics are re-opening, and money is flowing to clear irrigation ditches. "All this is just to get normal life moving again," Sedwill explained.

The government also is totally revamping the police in the province. "One of the reasons the Taliban [were] able to control this area was the police had, in effect, been captured by some local warlords who were using them against the population," Sedwill said. "The people told Karzai that they would not accept the old police force, and in fact said they would fight again should that be the case.

"It is absolutely critical that policing, in particular, delivers what the people of the area require: honest and decent policemen," he added.

The answer was to bring the Civil Order Police into the region, and they will stay there for months, the ambassador said, while new local police are recruited and trained.

Because many of the same problems exist elsewhere in the country, Sedwill noted, the experiences in Marja and Helmand are transferrable. "Dealing with those political issues ... is going to be a big part of how we are going to shape the campaign as we bring it forward," he said.

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Story by Jim Garamone
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 07:47

KABUL -

Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ambassador Mark Sedwill #150; NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan #150; spoke with reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at International Security Assistance Force headquarters here.

The Marja operation is a tactical and operational effort to liberate 75,000 Afghans from Taliban tyranny, the general said. "There was a Taliban flag flying over the place," McChrystal said. "There was also extensive narco-trafficking and production in the area."

The military part of the operation in the region is not over, but the high-profile part of security operations is, the general said. Following the strategy of "clear, hold, build and transfer," the clear portion of the operation will continue for months, he said. "But we have essentially gotten control of the area now, and we have begun moving into the next phase #150; the hold and build," McChrystal said.

Establishing effective government control in the region is key to success as the operation continues, he said. The governmental part of the operation concentrates on the people and allows the national government to show its leadership in a critical area. It also telegraphs where the military and government will move next.

"Many people talk about Kandahar," McChrystal said. "We are absolutely going to secure Kandahar. We are already doing a lot of operations in Kandahar, but it is our intent under [Afghan] President [Hamid] Karzai's direction to make an even greater effort there."

Operations in Kandahar will be different from those in Marja, McChrystal said. Some 30,000 coalition troops already are in and around the city, he said, but more are needed. The general said Kandahar operations will be more like a rising tide than a D-Day invasion, and that he anticipates it will reach its zenith in the summer.

"Kandahar has not been under Taliban control; it's been under a menacing Taliban presence, particularly in the districts around it," McChrystal said. "We have put additional forces in the districts, and we will reinforce that over time." The general added that he anticipates a lot of "political shaping" of Kandahar in advance of any offensive in the city.

The operation in Marja has a strategic importance as well, McChrystal told reporters. "As it becomes a steppingstone to further ops," he said. "It's also a demonstration to the Afghan people, the international community, to the Pakistanis, and -- importantly -- to the Taliban as well, that things have changed."

Narcotics bankrolled the Taliban in Helmand. "Security is the way we attack the problem long-term," McChrystal said. "In my view, you can never reduce the [narcotics] problem until you get governance and rule of law there."

As the region becomes more secure, McChrystal said, officials are finding that drug lords are moving their operations elsewhere in the country. "As we expand security," he added, "it makes it more difficult to find places to relocate."

The operations in Helmand have proven the strategy works, McChrystal said. ISAF and its Afghan allies are not trying to bring the insurgents into a toe-to-toe battle, McChrystal said.

"We were trying to take Marja with no fight or as little fight as possible," he explained. "We want the Afghan people to see the approach of security does not necessarily mean there will be a set-piece battle in their neighborhood." The coalition wants the insurgents out of the area so the people can make the decision to reintegrate without pressure from the Taliban, he said.

Cultural aspects in the country really define the strategy, the general noted. "What I think we've learned ... is if you try to push against the culture, you have huge problems," he said. "So when we have military operations here, I don't think of pushing them somewhere. I think of pulling somewhere.

"In Marja, we were pulled in." he continued. "We launched the final operation as a result of a signed resolution by the [community council], asking us to do the operation. They pulled us in."

By BERNARD HARRIS, Staff Writer

There were small flags stuck in window boxes and in flowerpots outside Main Street businesses and homes in the surrounding neighborhoods. The 8-inch-by-10-inch flags were among the 500 distributed by four Lititz-area mothers whose sons are serving in the U.S. Marines.

"We needed a way to channel our nervous energy into something positive," Linda Cunningham said of the effort, in which the women gave flags to their neighbors, along with letters asking them to display the flags Sunday.

Cunningham said the response has been overwhelming.

"I think we far exceeded what we hoped. We were just looking at our little neighborhoods," she said, but flags were flying in Ephrata, Manheim Township and elsewhere, she said.

"This is far bigger than our sons," she said.

Cunningham's son, Jonathon, is serving in Afghanistan. So is Pamela Harnish's son, Tyler Harris, and Penny Treadway's son, Dan. Kelly Newswanger's son, Ralph, is serving in Okinawa, Japan.

The four Marines were friends at Warwick High School and graduated together in 2008.

The sons are always in their mothers' thoughts. The flag initiative began as a way to remind others about all the men and women serving in the military.

"I think we get complacent with our freedoms here in the U.S.," Harnish said.

She said she seldom thought about those freedoms, or the men and women who protect them, until her own son was in uniform.

"I've had a kind of awakening. There are men and women every day putting their lives on the line so that we can live the kind of life we live," she said.

Treadway said she believes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are sometimes close to people's minds. "I think it kind of drifts in and out," she said of public attention to the wars, which have been ongoing since 2001 (Afghanistan) and 2003 (Iraq).

She said the flag initiative is a chance "just to renew and refresh in people's minds that we still have men and women serving."

Flags and yellow ribbons that show support for U.S. troops serving overseas fade and shred in the wind, she said. She hopes people will show their support by replacing tattered flags and flying them.

Treadway comes from a military family. She served in the Army; her older son, Edward, served two deployments as a Marine in Iraq.

She said she grew up with an American flag flying outside her house and continues that in front of her East New Street home today.

On Sunday, that flag was joined by many others on her neighbors' homes.

"It's an overwhelming feeling to know that there are so many people who do support the men and women over there," she said.

Newswanger said all the flags were quickly distributed by the other mothers. She distributed letters near her Brickerville home asking people to fly their own flags.

On Sunday, many did, she said.

"People were happy to do it," she said.

She said that many people have been supportive since her son, Ralph, joined the service nearly two years ago. Strangers have walked up to him to thank him, she said.

Cunningham said it is important for the troops to know that they are appreciated and remembered.

She said her son is in a very dangerous and stressful environment in Afghanistan. The landscape is desolate, and people have abandoned the area. Only the Taliban fighters remain, she said.

"Just having the memory that people at home are supporting him helps him to cope with being in a place that is so dangerous," Cunningham said.

"Just the knowledge that friends, family and community members are putting flags out with the specific goal of honoring their efforts is huge."

She said she and Harnish have talked about holding the flag day again next year -- even if their sons are back in the United States.

Although there are holidays, such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day, when military service is honored, she said those holidays have become more about having parades, picnics and family gatherings.

The March 7 event was a grass-roots effort.

"For this day, our goal was to send a special message for each and every one of those soldiers that we appreciate you and honor you for what you are doing to protect our country," she said.

Newswanger said she hopes people continue to fly their flags.

"Hopefully people keep them up, at least until the ones in Afghanistan return home," she said.

bharris@lnpnews.com

Story by Jim Garamone
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 07:50

KABUL -

Gates flew all night and landed at the international airport here. He immediately began a series of meetings with Afghan and NATO leaders.

"I hope to use this time to get out to some of the forward bases to thank the troops and talk with them," Gates said during an interview aboard the aircraft. "It's always interesting. I get briefings in the Pentagon about how things are going, and then I go out and visit an Army post or Air Force base and discover that they are living in a parallel universe. It will be good to get ground truth on some of these issues from the troops themselves."

Gates said he is going to Afghanistan "to get an update on the campaign not only in Marja, but [also on the] the next steps as we look to the spring and summer."

Marines and soldiers #150;accompanied by a significant number of Afghan security forces – are fighting the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies in Marja, a strategic area west of Kandahar. U.S. and Afghan forces announced months before the offensive into the area that they were coming. What's more, they pledged to clear the area of Taliban and then establish security so that development and governance could immediately follow.

The secretary said he also wants to examine efforts to counter the biggest killers of U.S. service members and Afghans: car, roadside and suicide bombs. He particularly wants to see how U.S. forces can help allies combat these threats.

Gates said he wants to see for himself that troops in Afghanistan are getting what they need, when they need it. "I want to get a picture on the ground from the other end of the force flow," he said, "and in particular, whether the equipment for the surge troops is arriving in a timely way."

He said he also is interested in checking on the timeliness of medical evacuation out of the country and the flow of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities into Afghanistan.

The secretary said he wants to speak with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about his visit to Marja and the community meetings he held there. He also hopes to speak with the president about Karzai hosting a "loya jurga" #150; a grand council of tribal leaders -- in April.

Gates said he sees no disagreement among nations regarding reconciliation and reintegration of former Taliban members and that he expects to learn more about the process in his visit to the country.

However, the secretary said, he suspects the Taliban will not be amenable to participating in a reconciliation process just yet. The Taliban still believe they are winning, he explained, though commanders #150; including Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the NATO and U.S. commander in the country #150; believe the Taliban momentum has been blunted. And this is happening with only 6,000 of the 30,000 new American troops having arrived in Afghanistan to date. All will be in the country by the end of August, Gates said. "We ought not get too impatient," the secretary said.

Once the Taliban realize the new NATO strategy is working, Gates said, many will see reconciliation and reintegration as options.

Meanewhile, Gates has adopted a "wait-and-see" attitude about efforts in Afghanistan. "There are bits and pieces of good news," he said. "I think we should stick to the McChrystal position #150; that the situation remains serious, but has stopped deteriorating. There are positive developments going on, but I would say it is very early yet, and I think people need to understand there are some very hard days ahead.

"The early signs are encouraging," he continued, "but I worry that people may get too impatient and think things are better than they actually are."

Gates also is going to check on the status of the more than 1,000 all-terrain mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that are now in Afghanistan. He wants to hear from the troops how these vehicles are doing and what other things they need. He also wants to check on progress in an initiative to building a warehouse of capabilities to counter improvised explosive devices at the battalion level, he added.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad will be visiting Afghanistan this week too. The secretary said Iran is playing a double game in Afghanistan. Iranian leaders want to maintain good relations with their neighbor to the east, but they do not want the United States to be successful in Afghanistan, he explained.

Building governmental capacity is a key to success in Afghanistan, Gates noted, and he said he wants to find ways to better coordinate the efforts of provincial reconstruction teams to enhance the capacity of Afghan governmental structures. He wants to look at "how to make the development projects more Afghan-centric, and how do we use [the teams] to build capacity at the subnational and national level in Afghanistan," he said.

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Courtesy Story
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 11:14

WASHINGTON - Afghan troops, assisted by coalition forces, cordoned and searched an insurgent supply route used to transport and harbor roadside bombs in Afghanistan's Helmand province late last week.

During the combined force's helicopter insertion, insurgents attacked the inbound aircraft with small-arms fire. While providing security for the combined force, helicopters and close-air support aircraft returned fire, killing two insurgents and allowing the force to land safely.

As the force began its movement on the objective area, attack helicopters identified and engaged five armed insurgents moving toward the force, wounding two. Commandos detained the two wounded insurgents and provided medical attention.

During a search of the area the force found and safely destroyed suicide vests, homemade explosives, rocket-propelled boosters, shaped charges and pressure-plate bombs.

As the mission continued, aerial scout teams and attack helicopters providing security for the force were engaged by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from 11 insurgents. The helicopters returned fire without causing civilian causalities or damage to property.

Later, the force discovered a second cache hidden inside a mosque. The cache consisted of homemade explosives, pressure-plate bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun ammunition. The Afghan commandos were the only personnel to enter the mosque.

One insurgent leader was captured and is being held for questioning.

In operations, March 7:

-- Combined security forces searched compounds in Khost following reports of militant activity and detained several suspected insurgents for questioning. The search force also uncovered several rifles and a shotgun.

-- A security force in Nangarhar province captured a Taliban deputy commander. The force searched a compound after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search, a suspected militant fled and was wounded. He was pursued and apprehended by the force. The man identified himself as a Taliban deputy commander responsible for leading attacks and ambushes against coalition forces. He was treated for his wounds on the scene and was medically evacuated to a nearby base.

-- In another Nangarhar operation, a security team searched a compound and captured a Taliban weapons operator responsible for acquiring weapons and ammunition for militant cells and involved in ambushes against coalition troops.

-- A combined security force searched a compound in Paktika province when intelligence information confirmed militant activity. The force captured a terrorist cell subcommander responsible for ordering the killings of Afghan citizens who cooperated with the government. When directly confronted, the man identified himself and surrendered.

-- In Zabul province, a combined security force searched a compound and captured a Taliban weapons facilitator responsible for weapons and supply movements to various militant cells.

-- A security force searched a compound in Zabul after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the security force captured a Taliban facilitator who participated in attacks on coalition forces and runs an early warning system for various militant networks.

-- An Afghan civilian told forces about a weapons cache in Herat province. When a security force investigated the report, it found two rockets and detonation cord. The items were destroyed.

-- Afghan forces discovered a weapons cache in a cave in Kunar province consisting of assault rifle magazines with 1,440 rounds of ammunition.

-- In Paktika province, Afghan police worked with international forces to find a weapons cache consisting of 46 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, 191 high-explosives rounds, two white phosphorous rounds, 69 recoilless rifle rounds, 43 primers, 16 rocket-propelled grenade boosters, 34 assorted fuses, 88 cases of rounds, and assorted small-arms ammunition.

In operations March 6:

-- A force captured a Taliban weapons facilitator in Ghazni province. The man, responsible for supplying arms to various militant networks, was captured during the search of a compound.

-- A combined force discovered a weapons cache after receiving a tip from a resident in Helmand province. The cache consisted of four hand grenades, 76 boxes of rounds, 125 rounds of ammunition, two mortar fuses and other munitions. They were destroyed on site.

-- A combined force searched a compound in Kandahar province after getting reports of militant activity. During the operation a few suspected militants were detained, one of whom was identified as a Taliban subcommander responsible for controlling weapons caches and explosive attacks.

-- A force found a weapons cache in Kandahar province that had six homemade bombs, each containing 40 to 60 pounds of homemade explosives, a 20-pound jug of homemade explosives and small-arms ammunition. The cache was destroyed.

-- In Farah province, an engineer patrol found seven Russian cluster bombs. The weapons will be destroyed.

In operations March 5:

-- An insurgent commander was killed while attempting to plant a homemade bomb in Helmand province.

-- Afghan forces operating with international forces in Kandahar province discovered a weapons cache including a rocket-propelled grenade, three grenades, a jug filled with various types of small-arms ammunition, multiple assault rifle magazines and a blasting cap.

Courtesy Story
Date: 03.08.2010
Posted: 03.08.2010 02:31

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan-international security force searched a compound in a rural area northeast of Khowst City, in the Sabari District of Khowst province, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the joint force detained a few suspected insurgents for further questioning.

In another operation in Khowst last night, a joint security force searched a series of compounds outside the village of Ya qubi, in the Sabari District, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the searches the security force detained two suspected insurgents for further questioning. The search force also uncovered several rifles and a shotgun.

A Taliban deputy commander was captured by an Afghan-international security force in Nangarhar province last night. A joint force searched a compound outside the village of Sanganay, in the Khogyani District, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search a suspected militant fled and was wounded.

He was pursued and apprehended by the joint force.

The militant identified himself as a Taliban deputy commander responsible for leading attacks and ambushes against coalition forces.

He was treated for his wounds on the scene and medically evacuated to a nearby base.

In another Nangarhar operation last night, a joint security team searched a compound in the village of Adowr, in the Khogyani District after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the joint force captured a Taliban weapons facilitator responsible for acquiring weapons and ammunition for militant cells and involved in ambushes against coalition troops.

In Paktika province last night, an Afghan-international security force searched a compound outside the village of Mohammad Kor, in the Orgun District, when intelligence information confirmed militant activity. During the search the joint force captured a Haqqani sub-commander responsible for ordering the killings of Afghan citizens who cooperated with the government. When directly confronted, the Haqqani commander identified himself and surrendered.

In Zabul province last night, a joint security force searched a compound in Jarollah, a village in the Qalat district, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the joint force captured a Taliban weapons facilitator responsible for
weapons and supply movements to various militant cells.

In a Zabul operation yesterday, an Afghan-international security force searched a compound in northeast Qalat City, in Qalat District, after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the security force captured a Taliban facilitator who participated in attacks on coalition forces and runs an early warning system for various militant networks.

In other operations, an Afghan civilian told ISAF forces about a weapons cache in the Shindand District of Herat province yesterday.

When a security force investigated the report it found two 107mm rockets and detonation cord. The items were destroyed.

No Afghan civilians were harmed during these operations.

By SANGAR RAHIMI and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

MARJA, Afghanistan — Once a Taliban refuge, Marja has come a long way since the Marines invaded four weeks ago, so much so that the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, arrived Sunday with top American and Afghan officials to speak to several hundred residents crammed inside a mosque.

But the visit made clear how much further there was to go if the people of Marja were ever to throw their loyalty behind the Afghan government.

On his visit to Marja, Mr. Karzai tried his best to play to the crowd, and appeared to win it over on occasion with his crisp and simple language, spoken in the accent of his native Kandahar, the neighboring province.

But residents made it painfully clear that his government was despised here for the corrupt, violent officials who preyed on Marja for much of the past decade before the Taliban arrived.

In fact, residents say, the depredations of government officials here largely explain why the Taliban and their more effective administration of power and justice became so dominant in Marja in the first place.

“We will tell you that the warlords who ruled us for the past eight years, those people whose hands are red with the people’s blood, those people who killed hundreds — they are still ruling over this nation,” Hajji Abdul Aziz, a leading elder of Marja, said, referring not to the Taliban but to government officials. “The people here could not dare to mention their problems.”

“For so many years there were only promises,” he added, shaking his finger at Mr. Karzai as he spoke on behalf of the people of Marja, “and the people have run out of patience.”

Mr. Aziz and others — some shouting at Mr. Karzai — recounted past abuses by the Afghan government now vying for credibility in Marja, including the case of a young boy plucked off the street and raped and imprisoned by local officials.

And they outlined newer complaints: Innocent farmers arrested by the Americans. No doctors. Destroyed irrigation canals. Schools and homes taken over by American troops. Other homes wrecked.

“You have said on the radio that you want our children to be educated,” Mr. Aziz said. “But how could we educate our children when their schools are turned into military bases? The Taliban never built their military bases in the schools.”

But Mr. Karzai warned against shunning the Americans, saying the country would fall under the influence of neighboring states.

“We need their help to rebuild ourselves,” he said. “As soon as we rebuild ourselves they will leave.”

A man shouted from the crowd, “Are they promising to leave?”

“They would leave now, but we are holding them back,” Mr. Karzai said, drawing laughter.

Though he was a punching bag for every manner of complaint, Mr. Karzai energized the crowd, some of whom stared at the president wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He even managed on occasion to turn the complaints to his favor.

When a police officer brusquely told an older man to sit and calm down, Mr. Karzai barked at him: “Let him say whatever he wants. Don’t touch him. Don’t bother him.” He ordered the officer out of the mosque.

At one point, he asked the assembly, “Are you going to stand beside me?” And the crowd cheered.

One unifying presence appeared to be the newly appointed district chief of Marja, Hajji Abdul Zahir. Revelations in recent days that Mr. Zahir reportedly served time in a German prison for stabbing his stepson did not appear to be an issue for the Marja residents who, despite their dislike of the government, praised Mr. Zahir.

“You represent the entirety of Marja,” Mr. Karzai told the crowd, then asked, “You are happy with him?” The crowd cheered in response; no one appeared to dissent.

Mr. Zahir continued to deny that he was ever convicted of attempted manslaughter in Germany, calling the charge “absolute lies.”

The American-led NATO military command in Afghanistan continues to support Mr. Zahir so long as his boss, Gulab Mangal, the governor of Helmand Province, supports him as well.

NATO commanders have not taken any steps to remove Mr. Zahir or to press the Afghan government to remove him, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the NATO command in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

“We’re happy with the job he has done because his boss is happy with the job he has done,” Colonel Breasseale said, referring to Mr. Zahir and Governor Mangal.

Sangar Rahimi reported from Marja, and Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Courtesy Story
Date: 03.07.2010
Posted: 03.07.2010 05:08

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan-international force captured a Taliban weapons facilitator in Ghazni province last night.

The weapons facilitator, responsible for supplying arms to various militant networks, was captured during the search of a compound outside the village of Khanzama Kheyl, Qara Bagh district.

In a separate operation, a joint Afghan-international force discovered a weapons cache after receiving a tip from a resident in Dishu district, Helmand province yesterday.

The cache consisted of four hand grenades, 76 boxes of 14.5 mm rounds, 125 rounds of 12.7 mm ammunition, two mortar fuses and other munitions. They were destroyed on site.

No shots were fired and no Afghan citizens were harmed during the operation.

By Tony Perry

March 7, 2010

Reporting from Now Zad, Afghanistan

Under a late winter sky, surrounded by mountains left verdant by recent rain showers, is one of Afghanistan's spookiest-looking and most dangerous places: the once-vibrant but now war-ravaged and virtually empty city of Now Zad.

For decades, it was among Helmand province's largest and most prosperous cities, thanks at least in part to the profitable opium poppy crop grown by local farmers, many of whom are sharecroppers.

Dozens of shops, numerous schools, government offices and mud-built homes for 25,000-plus residents were arrayed in a crowded pattern that resembled the Western idea of a city. One bakery produced 1,200 loaves of stone-baked bread daily; the main school had 2,500 students.

But residents fled four years ago amid fighting between the Taliban and the U.S.-led coalition. Only howling dogs remained.

The Taliban, seizing the city as a buffer against U.S.-led forces to the south, swooped in and planted hundreds of roadside bombs to block their enemy from using the streets to mount an advance or to set up more than a tiny outpost.

In the middle of last year, 200 Marines assaulted the Taliban in Now Zad and an encampment north of the city, but the result was a stalemate. Then, in December, the Marines launched a new assault, this time with 1,000 troops and several 70-ton assault breacher vehicles to clear a path through the buried bombs.

After several days of fighting, the Taliban dispersed. The Marines and Afghan soldiers and police moved cautiously into Now Zad.

Now there is a campaign to lure the residents back with promises of security, healthcare and schools. A few thousand have returned and Marines and Afghan forces have posted 24-hour guards in a city where nearly all the structures show the ravages of bitter war and harsh winter weather.

"There is no place like Now Zad," said Michael Ronning, a U.S. foreign service officer and Agency for International Development official, noting that the city's history makes it unique among the communities where the U.S. is attempting to persuade the population to turn on the Taliban.

The threat of bombs remains high despite the efforts of Afghan contractors, paid by the U.S., to find and dig up the explosives. Large areas remain off-limits, red-tagged as too dangerous while the slow work of de-mining continues, giving the city the look of a ghost town.

Eleven members of a family were killed by an explosion Feb. 28 just a few blocks from their home. That day, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J. Shapiro was visiting U.S. troops in Now Zad.

Despite some setbacks, U.S. officials present Now Zad as a story of how a more-aggressive use of military power, backed by a well-organized reconstruction effort, can wrest control of former Taliban strongholds. More VIP visits are expected.

Although Now Zad is nothing like it was before 2006, there are encouraging signs, including a willingness by early returnees to defy the Taliban, officials said.

A health clinic has opened, with a midwife. A school, for boys and girls, is open. Some shops in the main bazaar are selling goods again.

The Taliban is no longer inside the city limits, but fighters can strike on the surrounding roads. Marines based in Twentynine Palms, Calif., provide security in the city and constantly patrol the surrounding foothills.

And five Marines from Camp Pendleton, assigned as part of a "female engagement team," are hoping to arrange classes and outreach for women. But first they need to convince the women's husbands of their good intentions. "The men are curious, at least they haven't said no," Cpl. Christina Arana said.

In many Helmand province communities, having boys and girls in the same school is unthinkable because it might draw an attack by the Taliban. Nawa, for example, has 11 public schools, but none enroll girls. In Now Zad, the school is open to all, but girls and boys are in separate classrooms.

"I'm not sure what victory looks like, but I think it looks like this," said Marine Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson as he looked at a classroom where giggling girls read from spelling books provided by UNICEF.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

By Tony Perry

March 7, 2010

Reporting from Now Zad, Afghanistan

Under a late winter sky, surrounded by mountains left verdant by recent rain showers, is one of Afghanistan's spookiest-looking and most dangerous places: the once-vibrant but now war-ravaged and virtually empty city of Now Zad.

For decades, it was among Helmand province's largest and most prosperous cities, thanks at least in part to the profitable opium poppy crop grown by local farmers, many of whom are sharecroppers.

Dozens of shops, numerous schools, government offices and mud-built homes for 25,000-plus residents were arrayed in a crowded pattern that resembled the Western idea of a city. One bakery produced 1,200 loaves of stone-baked bread daily; the main school had 2,500 students.

But residents fled four years ago amid fighting between the Taliban and the U.S.-led coalition. Only howling dogs remained.

The Taliban, seizing the city as a buffer against U.S.-led forces to the south, swooped in and planted hundreds of roadside bombs to block their enemy from using the streets to mount an advance or to set up more than a tiny outpost.

In the middle of last year, 200 Marines assaulted the Taliban in Now Zad and an encampment north of the city, but the result was a stalemate. Then, in December, the Marines launched a new assault, this time with 1,000 troops and several 70-ton assault breacher vehicles to clear a path through the buried bombs.

After several days of fighting, the Taliban dispersed. The Marines and Afghan soldiers and police moved cautiously into Now Zad.

Now there is a campaign to lure the residents back with promises of security, healthcare and schools. A few thousand have returned and Marines and Afghan forces have posted 24-hour guards in a city where nearly all the structures show the ravages of bitter war and harsh winter weather.

"There is no place like Now Zad," said Michael Ronning, a U.S. foreign service officer and Agency for International Development official, noting that the city's history makes it unique among the communities where the U.S. is attempting to persuade the population to turn on the Taliban.

The threat of bombs remains high despite the efforts of Afghan contractors, paid by the U.S., to find and dig up the explosives. Large areas remain off-limits, red-tagged as too dangerous while the slow work of de-mining continues, giving the city the look of a ghost town.

Eleven members of a family were killed by an explosion Feb. 28 just a few blocks from their home. That day, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J. Shapiro was visiting U.S. troops in Now Zad.

Despite some setbacks, U.S. officials present Now Zad as a story of how a more-aggressive use of military power, backed by a well-organized reconstruction effort, can wrest control of former Taliban strongholds. More VIP visits are expected.

Although Now Zad is nothing like it was before 2006, there are encouraging signs, including a willingness by early returnees to defy the Taliban, officials said.

A health clinic has opened, with a midwife. A school, for boys and girls, is open. Some shops in the main bazaar are selling goods again.

The Taliban is no longer inside the city limits, but fighters can strike on the surrounding roads. Marines based in Twentynine Palms, Calif., provide security in the city and constantly patrol the surrounding foothills.

And five Marines from Camp Pendleton, assigned as part of a "female engagement team," are hoping to arrange classes and outreach for women. But first they need to convince the women's husbands of their good intentions. "The men are curious, at least they haven't said no," Cpl. Christina Arana said.

In many Helmand province communities, having boys and girls in the same school is unthinkable because it might draw an attack by the Taliban. Nawa, for example, has 11 public schools, but none enroll girls. In Now Zad, the school is open to all, but girls and boys are in separate classrooms.

"I'm not sure what victory looks like, but I think it looks like this," said Marine Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson as he looked at a classroom where giggling girls read from spelling books provided by UNICEF.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Letting Women Reach Women in Afghan War
By ELISABETH BUMILLER

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The Marines in a recent “cultural awareness” class scribbled careful notes as the instructor coached them on do’s and don’ts when talking to villagers in Afghanistan: Don’t start by firing off questions, do break the ice by playing with the children, don’t let your interpreter hijack the conversation.

And one more thing: “If you have a pony tail,” said Marina Kielpinski, the instructor, “let it go out the back of your helmet so people can see you’re a woman.”

These are not your mother’s Marines here in the rugged California chaparral of Camp Pendleton, where 40 young women are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in one of the more forward-leaning experiments of the American military.

Next month they will begin work as members of the first full-time “female engagement teams,” the military’s name for four- and five-member units that will accompany men on patrols in Helmand Province to try to win over the rural Afghan women who are culturally off limits to outside men. The teams, which are to meet with the Afghan women in their homes, assess their need for aid and gather intelligence, are part of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s campaign for Afghan hearts and minds. His officers say that you cannot gain the trust of the Afghan population if you only talk to half of it.

“We know we can make a difference,” said Capt. Emily Naslund, 26, the team’s executive officer and second in command. Like the other 39 women, Captain Naslund volunteered for the program and radiates exuberance, but she is not naïve about the frustrations and dangers ahead. Half of the women have been deployed before, most to Iraq.

“We all know that what you expect is not usually what it’s going to end up being,” said Sgt. Melissa Hernandez, 35, who signed on because she wanted something different from her office job at Camp Victory, the American military headquarters in Baghdad.

As envisioned, the teams will work like American politicians who campaign door to door and learn what voters care about. A team is to arrive in a village, get permission from the male elder to speak with the women, settle into a compound, hand out school supplies and medicine, drink tea, make conversation and, ideally, get information about the village, local grievances and the Taliban.

Whatever the outcome, the teams reflect how much the military has adapted over nine years of war, not only in the way it fights but to the shifting gender roles within its ranks. Women make up only 6 percent of the Marine Corps, which cultivates an image as the most testosterone-fueled service, and they are still officially barred from combat branches like the infantry.

But in a bureaucratic sleight of hand, used by both the Army and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan when women have been needed for critical jobs like bomb disposal or intelligence, the female engagement teams are to be “attached” to all-male infantry units within the First Marine Expeditionary Force — a source of pride and excitement for them.

“When I heard about this, I said, Oh, that’s it, let’s go,” said Cpl. Vanessa Jones, 25.

The idea for the teams grew out of the “Lioness” program in Iraq, which used female Marines to search Iraqi women at checkpoints. Over the past year in Afghanistan, the Army and Marines have assembled ad hoc female engagement teams, but the women were hastily pulled from work as cooks or engineers.

The women at Pendleton are among the first to be trained exclusively for the mission. “Every Marine wants to go outside the wire,” said Cpl. Michele Greco-Lucchina, 22, referring to assignments off the base. “We all join for different reasons, but that’s the basis for being a Marine.”

The women said they were not looking for combat and would work in areas largely cleared of militants. But in a war with no front lines, to be prepared for ambushes and snipers, they have taken an extended combat-training refresher course.

On patrols, the women will carry M-4 rifles, which are shorter and more maneuverable than the military’s standard M-16s, but once inside an Afghan compound, and with Marine guards posted outside, they have been instructed, assuming they feel safe, to remove their rifles and take off their intimidating “battle rattle” of helmets and body armor.

They have also been told to be sensitive to local custom and to wear head scarves under their helmets or, if that is too hot and unwieldy, to keep the scarves around their necks and use them to cover their heads once their helmets are off inside.

Marines who have worked with the ad hoc teams in Afghanistan said that rural Afghan women, rarely seen by outsiders, had more influence in their villages than male commanders might think, and that the Afghan women’s good will could make Afghans, both men and women, less suspicious of American troops.

Capt. Matt Pottinger, an intelligence officer based in the capital, Kabul, who helped create and train the first engagement team in Afghanistan, recently wrote that when one of the teams visited a village in southern Afghanistan, a gray-bearded man opened his home to the women by saying, “Your men come to fight, but we know the women are here to help.”

The man also sheepishly admitted, Captain Pottinger wrote in Small Wars Journal, an online publication, that the women were “good for my old eyes.”

Rural Afghan women, who meet at wells and pass news about the village, are often repositories of information about a district’s social fabric, power brokers and militants, all crucial data for American forces. On some occasions, Captain Pottinger said in an e-mail message, women have provided information about specific insurgents and the makers of bombs.

As part of their conversations with Afghan women, the Marines are to ask basic questions, including what is the most difficult problem facing the village. The answers will go into a database to guide the military and aid workers. As Ms. Kielpinski, the instructor, told the Marines, “If the population has told you that their biggest problem is irrigation and your unit does something about it, that’s a huge success.”

For now, the Marines remain apprehensive about the unknowns they will encounter. Capt. Claire Henry, 27, the top commander of the team, said she worried, like any officer, about her responsibilities to the women working under her. “You’re about to take Marines into harm’s way,” she said, “and at the end of the day you want to make sure you give them the right training and that they’re physically and mentally prepared for it.”