Kabul, July 04: Amid the worsening security situation in war-battered Afghanistan, American troops work to allay Afghan concerns over US military presence in their country.
The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban and seek out al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Nearly eight years after the US-led invasion of the country by coalition forces, Afghanistan is still in the grip of insecurity and poverty.
Over the past few months, Taliban-led insurgents have increased their acts of violence, making it difficult for US forces to keep control over several districts across Afghanistan’s troubled south, including regions near the border with Pakistan.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to station 17,000 extra troops and 4,000 military trainers in the country as part of the country’s new strategy for Afghanistan.
The US military presence in the war-stricken country has however raised the resentment of many Afghans, as US-led operations continue to take civilian lives.
“People are hostages of the Taliban, but they look at the coalition also as the enemy, because they have not seen anything good from them in seven or eight years,” said Hajji Abdul Ahad Helmandwal, a district council leader from Nadali in Helmand Province.
Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of the newly deployed 4,000 Marines in the mainly Taliban-held Helmand River valley, went among the people in the Garmsir district center to explain the objectives of US military in the country, AFP reported.
On Thursday, the Marines launched the anti-Taliban operation — Operation Khanjar — in the Helmand Province, advanced into Garmsir and Nawa by air and land and captured the Taliban-ruled Khanishin further south.
Chatting with locals, the US commander asked them about the security situation in the area to find out how the Marines must interact with locals to defeat the insurgents.
“It is good now,” a local said. “But one year ago, there was a lot of fighting here between troops and the Taliban. Our shops and homes were destroyed and we have had no help rebuilding them.”
Brig. Gen. Nicholson also explained why the Marines had arrived in the Helmand valley. He held much the same conversation with other locals.
“We are here to provide security for you and to help you,” he said. “We are only here until there are enough Afghan police and soldiers to take over security.”
Asked for an explanation for the death of innocent Afghan civilians in US-led operations, the commander sympathized with the people.
“Any Marine who shoots improperly will not stay here. We have been sent here to make things safer, not to frighten people,” he said.
“We are not perfect and sometimes can make mistakes but we will go out of our way to help the citizens of Garmsir,” he argued.
According to the United Nations, more than 2,000 Afghan civilians were killed throughout 2008 in operations by foreign forces.
The Afghan government has locked horns with Washington over the killing of civilians, which has prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to call for a halt in the attacks on several occasions.
—–Agencies