AFGHANISTAN - It Is Working!

"Marjah strategy has been effective" by Amy McCullough, Marine Times 3/11/2010

No one was surprised in February when U.S. military and coalition forces launched one of the largest operations in Afghanistan since the war began. After all, officials had been advertising the pending offensive for months.

The plan was to reduce the number of civilian casualties by keeping the local population informed, as well as to send a clear message to the Taliban that Afghanistan will no longer have any safe havens for terrorists.

The plan worked, said one top Marine official said Tuesday.

“The measuring stick [for success in Marjah] was whether it turned into a big kinetic fight with lots of casualties. [If that happened] then we would look back and say … maybe that wasn’t the right move. But, that hasn’t happened,” said Brig. Gen. David Berger, director of operations at Marine Corps headquarters, during a briefing with reporters. “I think it will take awhile to assess this type of approach and this type of counterinsurgency, but so far it’s been pretty effective.”

Marjah, which is located in central Helmand province, was a major hub for both drug activity and the Taliban. Many opium farmers had teamed up with the Taliban to protect their poppy crops, but it’s not clear how many of the major players stayed and fought and how many escaped by dropping their weapons and attempting to blend into the civilian population.

The local population remains skeptical, Berger said, as they wait to see whether the Corps will remain in the area for the long term and if the government will be corrupt or fair.

“They are waiting to see how this pans out for them individually,” Berger said. “It’s a wait and see approach right now, but from a military perspective it’s gone very, very well.”