Marines met with tribal elders in Marja.
One man, Izmarai, vented at the Marines for setting up an outpost at a home he said he owned. [...] “If you want to arrest me, arrest me,” he said. “If you want to shoot me, shoot me now. You say you want to make peace and security. Then why did you make your compound in my home, and between my home and my field? Did you ask me? No.” [...] But later he returned, saying his presentation had been a performance. There were Taliban members at the meeting, he said, and he spoke as he did to impress them. The Marines said they were not sure what to believe. Was he telling the truth? Or playing both sides?[...]
Abdul Ajahn, an elder here, voiced a lingering fear.
“If the Taliban shoots from that side, and you are on this side, and I am in between?” he said to the Marines at a meeting arranged by a commander and local elders over the weekend. “Then I am sure you will shoot me.”
[...]
How can farmers water and feed their livestock or work on crops without risking being shot? When will it be safe enough to visit the bazaar, which has been all but closed? When will searches of their homes stop? Can the mullah move through the village before dawn to open his mosque for morning prayer?
I'd like to hear the answers myself.
The Afghan official tapped to govern a Taliban-free Marja paid his first visit to this strife-torn community Monday, imploring residents to forsake the Taliban and promising employment programs as an inducement for local men to put down their weapons.[...]
But [Haji] Zahir, a native of southern Afghanistan who spent the past 15 years in Germany, elicited only a tepid endorsement from the men who gathered to meet him. Their questions made clear that the Taliban still enjoys deep support here, while the Afghan government is almost universally loathed, illuminating the deep challenge facing U.S. Marines and civilian stabilization specialists as they try to establish basic civic administration.
"The Taliban provided us with a very peaceful environment," said Fakir Mohammed, 32, a tractor driver. "They did not bother us. We were very happy with them here."
Mohammed said police corruption and malfeasance led residents to support the insurgents. "They were not corrupt like the police," he said.
[...]
"Your government drops bombs on us," another said.
[...]
[S]everal residents said they were less interested in government services than being left alone. The principal cash crop in Marja is opium-producing poppy, and many farmers are wary that the establishment of local governance and a police force will put an end to what has been a lucrative way of life.
[...]
Zahir arrived in Marja aboard a U.S. Marine MV-22 Osprey helicopter with a contingent of Marine officers and a small retinue of tribal elders who have been living in other parts of Helmand province. He stayed in Marja for only about two hours, not venturing more than 100 yards from where his aircraft landed.
I'm not certain Haji is off to a good start.
The battle taking place in Taliban stronghold Marja is the “initial salvo” in a military effort that could take up to twelve to eighteen months, General David H. Petraeus said today.
Wow, that's great timing! Just in time for the July 2011 date Obama says we're going to start pulling out. These guys are good!
Check back this summer.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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