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Monday, August 24, 2009

Shortly before last week's presidential elections, the Marines launched an operation to take back a key district. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson accompanied a Marine company in its battle to clear the Taliban out of one Helmand town.

They strike Dahaneh before dawn. Three helicopters carrying assault teams from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines and a squad of Afghan soldiers fly over a much slower convoy of armored vehicles also headed to the fight.

The airborne teams descend on a mud-walled compound where Afghans believed linked to the Taliban sleep on the roof to escape the summer heat. Several of the men are taken into custody. The women and children are sent to stay with relatives.

A few hours later, the armored convoy carrying more Marines and Afghan troops rolls in. Patrols are sent out to secure the town, one dirt street at a time.

The militants put up a fierce fight. The Marines guess someone's tipped them off about the operation.

Bullets, mortars and rockets rain down in periodic bursts on the troops. Most appear to be fired from mountains surrounding the town. But some Taliban fighters weave in and out of Dahaneh's deserted streets.

"That's him there," a Marine yells. "Go right!" comes another shout, punctuated by gunfire.

'On The Winning Side'
On the second day, one Marine is killed, his legs blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade. Taliban casualties in the fight over Dahaneh were much higher — an estimated dozen militants killed in the first 24 hours alone.

No civilians are believed hurt or killed. Most flee Dahaneh during lulls in the fighting.

Cobra helicopters and other military aircraft provide backup to the troops. One missile is even fired from a base some 60 miles away, taking out the militants' heavy-caliber machine gun on a nearby ridge.

With their large numbers and advanced weapons, the Marines and Afghan soldiers soon control much of Dahaneh.

But the operation commander, Marine Capt. Zachary Martin, says a meaningful victory here is about a lot more than who controls the terrain. He says the key to any long-term success will be to win over the town's population, estimated at 2,000.

"They're waiting to see what we're going to do," he says. "They want to see if we're going to stay the course, if we're going to be the winning side, because they very much want to be on the winning side."

Changing Perceptions
Martin says it's about more than demonstrating who is stronger. It's about whether the Marines can build trust. That's something he and others say it has taken Western forces in Afghanistan years to learn, including in this district.

Famed for its pomegranates, the district of Now Zad was an economic powerhouse for the Afghan government when it controlled Helmand province. Today, Now Zad is a moneymaker for the Taliban. The militant group taxes residents and reaps profits from the many opium poppy fields now cultivated here.

For years, the Taliban has kept people here cut off from the Afghan government — despite the presence of British and Estonian troops and, more recently, the U.S. Marines. There is no Afghan police force here, nor are there any schools.

Despite the isolation, Now Zad residents interviewed before last week's presidential polls were aware their country was about to hold elections.

Farmer Khan Mohammad, who lives in the tiny village of Khawji Jamal, says he would vote if the security situation were different. But with the Taliban ruling Now Zad, he and other villagers see little value in the polls.

It's this perception of Taliban domination that the Marines here want to change. If they don't, they see little hope of permanently driving out the Taliban...