Sunday, February 21, 2010

Back in Marja

"We're still pushing through the city," said Lt. Josh Diddams, a Marine spokesman. Some of the remaining pockets of insurgents consist of only a tiny handful of fighters, but at least 40 -- a relatively large concentration -- are thought to be holed up in the town's northwest quarter, the Associated Press reported.

[...]

NATO said the operation remains "on track," although commanders conceded this past week that clearing operations will take a month or more, somewhat longer than originally envisioned.

  LA Times

We just haven't gotten that 'quick as a flash' thing perfected yet.

Just hours after the Marines and Afghan army began an offensive to drive the Taliban from the community of Marja, a Marine officer told several hundred Afghan men that the goal is to provide the people of Marja with the same peace and prosperity now being enjoyed in Nawa.

[...]

The improvements in Nawa since the Marines chased the Taliban from control last summer are noticeable and significant: the bazaar reopened, a clinic established, a school refurbished and opened, a community council formed, irrigation canals cleaned, and Afghan police patrolling the streets and back roads.

[...]

Haji Abdul Manaf, the district governor for this region of Helmand Province, [however,] was incensed.

An employee from the agricultural ministry of the provincial government refuses to come to Nawa unless he is assured a desk and a telephone at the district headquarters, where desks and phones are in short supply.

[...]

Although there have been improvements recently, the relationship between the district government and the provincial government in Lashka-Gar is tenuous.

[...]

[R]ifts between the locals and the provincial government cover nearly all services and are hampering plans to make Nawa into a showpiece of the permanent improvements that can occur when the Taliban are no longer in charge.

  LA Times

Not to worry. Marja is going to get a US-certified 'government in a box.' I'm sure that will be light-years better.

The civilian team's most important immediate task will be to assist the newly appointed district governor, Haji Zahir, who recently returned to Afghanistan after 15 years in Germany. Zahir plans to make his first trip to Marja in the coming days.

A key challenge for the stabilization team and Marine commanders will be transforming Zahir, who does not hail from Marja and knows few people there, into an influential local figure.

  MSNBC

Well, good luck with that.

The man with the most sway in Marja is Abdul Rahman Jan, the former police chief in Helmand. His officers in Marja were so corrupt and ruthless — their trademark was summary executions — that many residents welcomed the Taliban as a more humane alternative.

Although Jan, who has extensive ties to narcotics traffickers, was removed from his post in 2005 after pressure from the British government, which was then about to send forces to Helmand, he remains close to Karzai.

Jan injected himself into discussions with tribal leaders in the run-up to the current operation. U.S. and British diplomats say they think he will seek to influence the shape of the future Marja government and police force, in an effort to protect his interests in the area.

"Karzai wants A.R.J. to be the guy calling the shots in Marja, not Haji Zahir," said a Western diplomat familiar with the issue. "That makes building an effective, stable government there a very challenging proposition."

In coming days [...] the coalition expects [Marja] will be secure enough to bring in [Zahir], marking a symbolic shift in emphasis away from the military confrontation and toward job creation, school openings and the setting up of other long-absent public services.

  LA Times

I hope they have a desk and phone lined up.


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