Altogether now ... the big push in Afghanistan By Elias Dai, Ron Synovitz
At the central bus station in Lashkar Gah, buses arriving straight from the
town of Marjah have been packed full of the displaced in recent days.
Hundreds of Afghan families are fleeing Taliban-controlled territory in the
southern Afghan province of Helmand ahead of an expected offensive by North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Afghan government troops.
As many as 2,000 Taliban fighters are reportedly concentrated and fortifying
themselves in and around the town of Marjah.
Fearful of being caught in the violence, some residents are
heading for Helmand's provincial capital of Lashkar Gah or places in
neighboring Kandahar province that they consider to be relatively safe. Many
trucks can be seen along the road - loaded with furniture, home appliances and
other personal belongings of fleeing families.
Mauwla Dad, a truck driver from Marjah, tells RFE/RL he has made more than a
dozen recent journeys, shuttling families and their belongings to safe haven.
"Every day, I have been providing transportation for three or four families,"
Dad says. "People are leaving Marjah amid rumors that the [anti-Taliban]
offensive could begin any day now."
A Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in Helmand province reports that
villagers also are escaping to the nearby districts of Baba-ji, Nad-Ali and
Gereshk.
But Brigadier James Cowen, the British commander of Task Force Helmand, tells
Reuters in Lashkar Gah that he thinks reporters are blowing the civilian
movements out of proportion.
"I think those reports of fleeing residents is a little exaggerated, in fact. I
mean there are some leaving the area, but by no means the numbers that the news
are reporting," Cowen says, according to Reuters. "I think we may see more of
that in the forthcoming days, but we are keeping a close eye on it."
Families uprooted
Ghulam Farouq Noorzai, who heads the Afghan government's refugee affairs
department in Helmand province, says officials have formed an "emergency
commission" with plans to receive 15,000 families. They have also sent a
delegation to meet with United Nations humanitarian aid officials responsible
for southern Afghanistan.
"The World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the United Nations
Refugee Agency - the UNHCR - have accepted our plan," Noorzai says.
Noorzai tells RFE/RL that villagers in and around Marjah are gravely concerned
about the expected military offensive. He says many are staying in their homes
for now because they have no place to go, but adds that a flood of displaced
families are expected in Lashkar Gah and in nearby Kandahar province once the
anticipated offensive begins.
"Around 400 to 500 families already have arrived [in Lashkar Gah]," Noorzai
says. "Our emergency commission is registering these displaced people. We have
created a refugee center at a school ground in Lashkar Gah and plan to move
them there soon."
Haji Akhtar Mohammad, a resident of Marjah, tells Reuters that he considers the
offensive a necessary step by Afghan and NATO forces to keep the province free
from the kind of intimidation that Taliban fighters have imposed on residents
of his community.
"The military operation is being launched in our village in order to keep us
from any possible danger," Mohammad says, according to Reuters. "I decided to
leave the village [for now] and we are heading to Lashkar Gah to rent a house."
Military might
Meanwhile, NATO and Afghan government checkpoints have been set up around the
Marjah district in an attempt to stop Taliban fighters from slipping out of the
area among the fleeing civilian population.
RFE/RL's correspondent in Helmand reports that scattered clashes were occurring
today at villages in the nearby district of Nad-Ali, where NATO and Afghan
government troops have set up blocking positions.
Marjah sits near the dividing line between British forces who patrol the
northern part of Helmand province and US Marines who patrol the southern areas.
The British-led NATO contingent is nearly 10,000 strong while US forces number
about 15,000.
Thousands of Afghan security forces also are expected to take part in the
offensive - codenamed "Operation Moshtarak", which means "together" in the Dari
language. They include troops from the Afghan National Army as well as about
100 specialists from Afghanistan's elite police unit - the Afghan National
Civil Order Police (ANCOP) .
Cowen says the Afghan security forces will play a greater role than in any
previous offensive involving NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Their training has included work on locating and removing land mines and
improvised explosive devices - which are expected to be prevalent in terrain
where Taliban fighters have been preparing defenses.
"All of our officers in the ANCOP team are ready for any kind of operation,"
Colonel Qadam Shah, a brigade commander in the Fifth Battalion of that elite
Afghan police unit, says. "I am proud of my role for being a part of it."
United States Marines, the first wave of a US troop surge ordered by US
President Barack Obama, pushed Taliban fighters out of much of southern Helmand
province last summer while British forces captured Taliban strongholds in the
north.
However, those forces met weaker than expected resistance because many Taliban
apparently fled to strongholds in Marjah and nearby villages. Irrigation canals
crisscross Marjah district - terrain that is well suited to the Taliban's style
of guerrilla tactics.
New dynamic
NATO-led air strikes have targeted Taliban forces in previous operations where
the Taliban have been concentrated. But air strikes also have the potential to
alienate the local population when they miss their targets and kill innocent
civilians.
NATO military leaders have said the offensive on Marjah will be one of the
defining operations in their counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan the
collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Already the US troop surge has created a new dynamic on the ground in southern
Afghanistan. In years past, spring offensive operations have been Taliban
guerilla campaigns against NATO and Afghan government forces - as well as
bombings and assassinations of civilian Afghan officials in provincial areas.
But with thousands more foreign troops on the ground - along with better
trained and equipped Afghan security forces - the Taliban now look set to be on
the receiving end of a spring offensive in Afghanistan.
A Taliban statement during the weekend criticized the buildup of forces around
Marjah at a time when the government in Kabul has been trying to convince the
Taliban that reconciliation and peace talks are possible.
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Habib Qadir contributed to this
report.
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But Brigadier James Cowen, the British commander of Task Force Helmand, tells
Reuters in Lashkar Gah that he thinks reporters are blowing the civilian
movements out of proportion.
