Washington, March 05: A top US military commander says Afghans are less welcoming to US-led forces in southern town of Marjah, where American marines have launched an offensive against the Taliban.
“We’ve got a very skeptical population here,” said Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of US Marines in southern Afghanistan, on Thursday.
“Unlike some of the other areas that we’ve been in that were generally glad to see us but were always wondering if we would stay, the population here is concerned about what we’re going to be able to do for them,” AFP quoted the US commander as claiming.
On 13 February 2010, more than 15,000 American, British and Afghan troops launched operation “Moshtarak,” in the Taliban-held districts of Marjah and Nad Ali in Helmand province.
Thousands of US-led foreign soldiers and Afghan troops have faced strong resistance from militants in Marjah district, one of the Taliban strongholds.
So far, more than three dozen civilians have been killed in the US-led operation that has entered its third week.
Food and medicine are scarce as food prices have inflated since the beginning of the operation, according to Humanitarian organizations.
Thousands of Marjah residents are flooding into the surrounding areas in search of aid as US-led Operation rages on in the province.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that was supposedly launched to eliminate militancy in the country.
——Agencies