Military News
02-23-2010, 06:45 AM
02-22-2010 10:29 PM
KABUL — Taliban jihadists who ruled Marjah had recently softened their brutal treatment of the townspeople and seemed less intent on running every aspect of their lives, according to the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
The apparent change in behavior may have been a response to the refusal of Marjah residents to put up with repressive rule, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a coalition spokesman in Afghanistan.
“It wasn’t as evident that brutality was [the Taliban’s] main weapon,” Smith said Monday.
The coalition based its conclusion on observations made during the offensive on the largest Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The combined NATO-Afghan force is in its 10th day of the largest offensive since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2001. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the battle was tough going.
“We’re making steady, if perhaps a bit slower than anticipated, progress,” he said.
Prior to the invasion, Afghanistan had been largely taken over by the Taliban, radical clerics who imposed an Islamist state on the country and harbored al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The Taliban brutality has been well documented. During its reign, the Taliban held public executions in Kabul’s soccer stadium. Women were forced to wear burqas because their faces were seen as a source of corruption. Beatings for adultery or because a man’s beard was not long enough were common; girls were denied schooling and could be married at age 9.
The Taliban still exercises a reign of terror in many parts of the country, using beheadings and intimidation to control the population, according to the State Department. But it seemed to have curbed some of its brutality in Marjah, Smith said.
Last year, Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued a “code of conduct” that directed Taliban fighters to limit civilian casualties.
During several years of controlling Marjah, the Taliban did not provide basic services to residents. It did institute a rule of law that was used for dispute resolution, such as quarrels over water rights or land.
“People understood what the rules were,” Smith said.
The Taliban in Marjah, however, did not try to extend its control into the minutiae of people’s lives, such as dictating marriages, Smith said. It did keep tight control over education and attempt to cut off the population from the outside world by denying cell phone service and through other means, Smith said.
The Taliban valued Marjah because the city’s drug trade gave the militants revenue. The Taliban may have concluded that the “people of Marjah will never accept complete control,” he said.
Afghan Lt. Col. Ghullam Dastagir, a battalion commander whose men are fighting in Marjah, said his troops came across palatial homes he suspects belonged to drug kingpins.
Much of the information about Taliban rule in Marjah — in the heart of opium-poppy farmland that the jihadists have controlled for several years — has come from frequent meetings that U.S. and Afghan officers had with residents before the battle commenced, the coalition said.
The softer approach does not seem to have helped the Taliban’s popularity, however.
U.S. and Afghan officers held about 25 shuras, or village counsels, in the months leading up to the offensive, and villagers said they wanted the Taliban out.
“We were tired of them,” said Sayeed Wakhan, a 45-year-old farmer who was knee-deep in mud while working in a field on Marjah’s outskirts last week.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/gns_marjah_022210w/)
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KABUL — Taliban jihadists who ruled Marjah had recently softened their brutal treatment of the townspeople and seemed less intent on running every aspect of their lives, according to the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
The apparent change in behavior may have been a response to the refusal of Marjah residents to put up with repressive rule, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a coalition spokesman in Afghanistan.
“It wasn’t as evident that brutality was [the Taliban’s] main weapon,” Smith said Monday.
The coalition based its conclusion on observations made during the offensive on the largest Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The combined NATO-Afghan force is in its 10th day of the largest offensive since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2001. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the battle was tough going.
“We’re making steady, if perhaps a bit slower than anticipated, progress,” he said.
Prior to the invasion, Afghanistan had been largely taken over by the Taliban, radical clerics who imposed an Islamist state on the country and harbored al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The Taliban brutality has been well documented. During its reign, the Taliban held public executions in Kabul’s soccer stadium. Women were forced to wear burqas because their faces were seen as a source of corruption. Beatings for adultery or because a man’s beard was not long enough were common; girls were denied schooling and could be married at age 9.
The Taliban still exercises a reign of terror in many parts of the country, using beheadings and intimidation to control the population, according to the State Department. But it seemed to have curbed some of its brutality in Marjah, Smith said.
Last year, Taliban leader Mullah Omar issued a “code of conduct” that directed Taliban fighters to limit civilian casualties.
During several years of controlling Marjah, the Taliban did not provide basic services to residents. It did institute a rule of law that was used for dispute resolution, such as quarrels over water rights or land.
“People understood what the rules were,” Smith said.
The Taliban in Marjah, however, did not try to extend its control into the minutiae of people’s lives, such as dictating marriages, Smith said. It did keep tight control over education and attempt to cut off the population from the outside world by denying cell phone service and through other means, Smith said.
The Taliban valued Marjah because the city’s drug trade gave the militants revenue. The Taliban may have concluded that the “people of Marjah will never accept complete control,” he said.
Afghan Lt. Col. Ghullam Dastagir, a battalion commander whose men are fighting in Marjah, said his troops came across palatial homes he suspects belonged to drug kingpins.
Much of the information about Taliban rule in Marjah — in the heart of opium-poppy farmland that the jihadists have controlled for several years — has come from frequent meetings that U.S. and Afghan officers had with residents before the battle commenced, the coalition said.
The softer approach does not seem to have helped the Taliban’s popularity, however.
U.S. and Afghan officers held about 25 shuras, or village counsels, in the months leading up to the offensive, and villagers said they wanted the Taliban out.
“We were tired of them,” said Sayeed Wakhan, a 45-year-old farmer who was knee-deep in mud while working in a field on Marjah’s outskirts last week.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/gns_marjah_022210w/)
[Clicking on more will open up a popup box with the complete news story from the news source. MilitaryWoman.org is not responsible for content.]