Lack of Afghan Forces "Achilles Heel" for USUK efforts

[khad]

Proving yet again that today's Afghan National Army is a far cry from the magnificent people's army under Dr. Najib, which single-handedly smashed 10000 mojahadeen backed with artillery and armor in the Battle of Jalalabad (1989).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/asia/08afghan.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print


July 8, 2009
Allied Officers Concerned by Lack of Afghan Forces

By RICHARD A. OPPEL (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/richard_a_jr_oppel/index.html?inline=nyt-per) Jr.
NAWA, Afghanistan — One week after several battalions of Marines (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/us_marine_corps/index.html?inline=nyt-org) swept through the Helmand River valley, military commanders appear increasingly concerned about a lack of Afghan forces in the field.

“What I need is more Afghans,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marine expeditionary brigade in Helmand Province. He accompanied the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/stanley_a_mcchrystal/index.html?inline=nyt-per), during a visit with troops at Patrol Base Jaker here on Monday.

General Nicholson and others say that the long-term success of the operation hinges on the performance of the Afghan security forces, which will have to take over eventually from the American troops.

General Nicholson said the American force of almost 4,000 had been joined by about 400 effective Afghan soldiers.
“The net increase in Afghan security forces is zero” since the brigade arrived a few months ago, he said. The lack of Afghan forces “is absolutely our Achilles’ heel,” added Capt. Brian Huysman, commander of Company C of the First Battalion, Fifth Marines in Nawa.

Captain Huysman said the Afghan forces were critically important in establishing trust and communication with citizens. “We can’t read these people; we’re different,” he said. “They’re not going to tell us the truth. We’ll never get to build and transition” — the last phase of the operation — “unless we have the Afghans.”

With casualties beginning to mount, American military officials say they want at least a full brigade of Afghan forces in Helmand, thousands more than are here now.

NATO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/north_atlantic_treaty_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org) forces said Tuesday that three foreign soldiers, two Canadians and a Briton, had died in a helicopter crash on Monday, already the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan in nearly a year. Of seven United States soldiers killed Monday, said Capt. Jon Stock, an American military spokesman, six died in bomb explosions and one in a firefight.

The Marine operation that began last week appeared to overwhelm the Taliban (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taliban/index.html?inline=nyt-org) fighters who have long dominated this region, which provides a large part of the raw opium the Taliban use to finance operations throughout the country. But commanders believe that the Taliban made a calculated decision to retreat, leaving the Marines with little resistance so far.

For now, many Taliban are believed to have pulled back to more remote locations, like Marjah, a village west of here, to regroup and try to figure out how to reassert themselves in an area so crucial to financing their guerrilla campaign.

“This is the engine that drives the Taliban,” General Nicholson said, referring to the lush canal-fed land along the Helmand River that produces much of Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop.

At the meeting in Nawa, General McChrystal asked for input from the assembled officers. A British Army officer, Maj. Rob Gallimore, who leads a team training Afghan soldiers, responded bluntly: While the success of the weeklong operation had been “staggering,” he said, he was worried what would happen if the necessary complement of Afghan forces did not materialize. “To drop it by a lack of men would be criminal,” he said.

General McChrystal emphasized that the operation needed to show the local people quickly that they had more to gain from life without the Taliban than with them. The military “got a lot of fanfare” during the initial push last week, the general said, and now has to deliver on its promises.

“Militarily, you can think you can control areas, but sociologically if you don’t control them, you’re not going to be able to do what we need to do here,” he said.

General Nicholson added that the operation had a “narrow window of opportunity.” In a month, he said, the people will say you “came in and chased the Taliban away.”

“But how is my life better? How is your presence benefiting me and my family?”

Abdul Waheed Wafa and Muhibullah Habibi contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJlHt6gQIg

[FreeFocus]

Nonetheless, I won't complain about the weakness of the puppet Afghan forces, nor it hampering imperialist efforts in Afghanistan. The imperialist strategy, when you analyze it, is very good, and has a dangerous chance of succeeding.

[Nakidana]

Good article. The Taliban are not going to stand their ground just to get slaughtered by US bombs. They're moving out of the way and striking where possible. Remember that, in contrast to the criminal occupying forces, the Taliban are Afghans, and they've got all the time in the world.

This photo was printed in one of the bourgeois newspapers:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8711/afg2.png (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/afg2.png/)

Who? Infantryman Brian Knight. What? US offensive in 40 degree heat. Where? Helmand province.

No air condition in the graveyard of empires, motherfucker.

[Pogue]

Good article. The Taliban are not going to stand their ground just to get slaughtered by US bombs. They're moving out of the way and striking where possible. Remember that, in contrast to the criminal occupying forces, the Taliban are Afghans, and they've got all the time in the world.

This photo was printed in one of the bourgeois newspapers:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8711/afg2.png (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/afg2.png/)

Who? Infantryman Brian Knight. What? US offensive in 40 degree heat. Where? Helmand province.

No air condition in the graveyard of empires, motherfucker.

That last sentence sounds like something Samuel L. Jackson would say if he was involved in anti-imperialist politics.

I WILL NOT HAVE NO MOTHERFUCKING IMPERIALIST FORCES IN MY MOTHERFUCKING AFGHANISTAN

[Il Medico]

You know what the US's Achilles' heel is in Afghanistan? Being murderous imperialist bastards that no one likes. Kinda of like The Roman Empire, or Nazi Germany, but there still around to reap the benefits of their villainous ways right?...oh....wait!

[Psy]

Nonetheless, I won't complain about the weakness of the puppet Afghan forces, nor it hampering imperialist efforts in Afghanistan. The imperialist strategy, when you analyze it, is very good, and has a dangerous chance of succeeding.
No it is not, for all the blood and money the west is pouring into Afghanistan even if they win it would just be the Russian capitalists that wins as the US military bases don't hamper Russian capitalists owning the means of production of Afghanistan meaning winning in Afghanistan for the west now would simply be fighting a war of economic domination for Russia's gain.

[FreeFocus]

No it is not, for all the blood and money the west is pouring into Afghanistan even if they win it would just be the Russian capitalists that wins as the US military bases don't hamper Russian capitalists owning the means of production of Afghanistan meaning winning in Afghanistan for the west now would simply be fighting a war of economic domination for Russia's gain.

In terms of opening up alternative routes to the West for natural gas and oil pipelines (they don't want to go through Iran - this dates back to the Clinton administration), one of the major goals of the imperialist occupation, putting down the insurgency equals success (the Afghan puppet government provides "stability" for capitalist economic projects such as the pipelines). The revised imperialist strategy in Afghanistan entails curtailing the bombing raids and shifting money towards infrastructure and social services. If the Taliban didn't murder other Afghans as well, I wouldn't be so adamant about the imperialist chances for success. However, as in Iraq, some resistance groups also indiscriminately murder their own people, undermining support. Then we get bullshit like the Awakening Councils and Shia and Sunni militiamen turning to the imperialists to get money.

The fact is that people fucking hate the Taliban. It's a matter of who is hated more, and the imperialist strategy in Afghanistan is to be hated less, thereby "winning" people over. The new commander, Stanley McChrystal, often states that a major part of the new strategy is to avoid civilian casualties and "protect the population from the Taliban." Of course they aren't protecting Afghans really, but if they appear to be protecting them, that's what matters (perception usually overrides the concrete reality of things when the two aren't the same).

On a side note, Russia isn't as opposed to imperialist goals in Afghanistan as you think. Russians don't want a hostile Islamic theocracy in Afghanistan - part of the reason why they're allowing NATO to use their airspace. This is actually one topic I'll touch on in one of my upcoming articles, Barack Obama and Capitalist Unity.

[JimmyJazz]

No air condition in the graveyard of empires, motherfucker.

If you've never been 18 and faced with the choice between the military and McDonald's, and chose McDonald's, then shut the fuck up and stop making all leftists sound like moralizing, middle-class assholes.

[FreeFocus]

If you've never been 18 and faced with the choice between the military and McDonald's, and chose McDonald's, then shut the fuck up and stop making all leftists sound like moralizing, middle-class assholes.

If you've never lived under brutal military occupation, been bombed or had your house invaded and your family killed, or had your culture suppressed and your dignity spat upon, then shut the fuck up and stop defending imperialist shock troops.

It's not personal, JJ, but would you defend an 18 year-old who mugged and killed an elderly woman just to get her purse?

[JimmyJazz]

If you've never lived under brutal military occupation, been bombed or had your house invaded and your family killed, or had your culture suppressed and your dignity spat upon, then shut the fuck up and stop defending imperialist shock troops.

More anti-materialist moralizing. Because everyone knows the shock troops make the decisions to drop the bombs on people's houses, and aren't just hamburger meat in a different uniform for the same grinder.

eta: in before "primary contradiction"


It's not personal, JJ, but would you defend an 18 year-old who mugged and killed an elderly woman just to get her purse?

If society told him from birth that this was an acceptable, no, an honorable option? And agents from the government approached him each day as he left high school and tried to get him to do it? And 500,000 people were already doing it, and drove around with bumper stickers on their cars saying "Mugger Pride, Semper Fi" and talked about how proud their mothers were of them for doing it?

Yes, in those circumstance I would indeed call anyone who points the finger at the mugger himself, and not at the government recruiters, the mugging brass, the preachers who make it a thing to be proud of, or the state that set the whole thing in motion, a moralizing middle-class idiot.

Oh, and one little detail: the "mugger" doesn't get the "purse" in an imperialist army. I don't know exactly how many U.S. foot soldiers have stock in Halliburton or ExxonMobil, but my guess would be zero.

[FreeFocus]

More anti-materialist moralizing. Because everyone knows the "shock troops" make the decisions to drop bombs on people's houses, and aren't just hamburger meat in a different uniform for the same grinder.

Nothing is more material than the rubble of your house or the scattered limbs of your relatives. If you call that moralizing, fine. I don't think life boils down to "2+2=4." And I'm so sad for that poor young adult who joins the military machine and is exploited as he goes out and murders entire families and helps form the institution used to browbeat and threaten entire nations into submission.

The case where the troops disagree with the decisions are rare. Being in a position of raw aggressive ability changes your psychological outlook and worldview. By all means, imperialist troops aren't just pawns, they support imperialism with heart and body. I wouldn't make this same argument for people who join the military of, say, Bolivia, because there's obviously no comparison.

And good stuff with "Mugger Pride, Semper Fi." :lol:

[FreeFocus]

Oh, and one little detail: the "mugger" doesn't get the "purse" in an imperialist army. Not sure how many U.S. foot soldiers have stock in Halliburton or ExxonMobil, but my guess would be 0.

No one said that the mugger got the woman's full life savings, he just got a purse with like $40.

I'm pretty sure those US foot soldiers wouldn't be getting jack anything in a paycheck if Haliburton or Exxon Mobil weren't around. In fact, they'd be out of a "job," since that's all it is apparently (one that involves murdering people). They get a paycheck as long as Haliburton and Exxon stay afloat.

[Psy]

In terms of opening up alternative routes to the West for natural gas and oil pipelines (they don't want to go through Iran - this dates back to the Clinton administration), one of the major goals of the imperialist occupation, putting down the insurgency equals success (the Afghan puppet government provides "stability" for capitalist economic projects such as the pipelines).

The pipeline will never be built as Afghanistan will never be stable enough for it. The Russian capitalists interests are far more practical, they buy Afhgan opium in with Russian made weapons from warlords and what is left of Afghanistan's landed aristocracy. Russian capitalists are even selling arms to insurgence in exchange for opium, not like they care since the killing of US troops is a externality to making profits that Russian capitalists can live with.



The revised imperialist strategy in Afghanistan entails curtailing the bombing raids and shifting money towards infrastructure and social services. If the Taliban didn't murder other Afghans as well, I wouldn't be so adamant about the imperialist chances for success. However, as in Iraq, some resistance groups also indiscriminately murder their own people, undermining support. Then we get bullshit like the Awakening Councils and Shia and Sunni militiamen turning to the imperialists to get money.

The fact is that people fucking hate the Taliban. It's a matter of who is hated more, and the imperialist strategy in Afghanistan is to be hated less, thereby "winning" people over. The new commander, Stanley McChrystal, often states that a major part of the new strategy is to avoid civilian casualties and "protect the population from the Taliban." Of course they aren't protecting Afghans really, but if they appear to be protecting them, that's what matters (perception usually overrides the concrete reality of things when the two aren't the same).

That assumes you only have the Taliban and imperialists when you also have rouge Russian capitalists that see Afganistan insurgence as paying customers for their commodities (stolen Russian arms) and want Afganistan to stay a wild west were law enforcement doesn't hamper their rate of profit. Afganistan is the new Columbia, Russian drug loards in Afganistan are currently the clear emerging ruling class in Afganistan making far more profits then the pipe line would ever generate.



On a side note, Russia isn't as opposed to imperialist goals in Afghanistan as you think. Russians don't want a hostile Islamic theocracy in Afghanistan - part of the reason why they're allowing NATO to use their airspace. This is actually one topic I'll touch on in one of my upcoming articles, Barack Obama and Capitalist Unity.

A popular peasent revolution in Afganistan is far more probable then a Islamic theocracy.

[JimmyJazz]

Nothing is more material than the rubble of your house or the scattered limbs of your relatives. If you call that moralizing, fine.

An Iraqi would have every right to make a comment like "no air condition in the graveyard of empires, motherfucker." Malangyar, otoh, should probably just join the Green Party, where he won't have to worry about making a materialist analysis (or a difference). There is no one in a first world country that benefits less from imperialist war than a soldier.

[Nakidana]

If you've never been 18 and faced with the choice between the military and McDonald's, and chose McDonald's, then shut the fuck up and stop making all leftists sound like moralizing, middle-class assholes.

Are you arguing that we can't criticise anyone unless we've personally been in the same situation and made a different choice? WARNING: Do not enter the history section of this forum JJ! :lol:


More anti-materialist moralizing. Because everyone knows the shock troops make the decisions to drop the bombs on people's houses, and aren't just hamburger meat in a different uniform for the same grinder.

They still made the choice to carry out those decisions. All of them have the choice to stop right now by way of mutiny. If they choose instead to go around killing Afghan women and children then don't expect my sympathy.


If society told him from birth that this was an acceptable, no, an honorable option? And agents from the government approached him each day as he left high school and tried to get him to do it? And 500,000 people were already doing it, and drove around with bumper stickers on their cars saying "Mugger Pride, Semper Fi" and talked about how proud their mothers were of them for doing it?

That might be an explanation for his choice, but it doesn't excuse it. Millions of people have shitty lives but most of them still don't become professional killers for the military. There are many other ways to survive.


Yes, in those circumstance I would indeed call anyone who points the finger at the mugger himself, and not at the government recruiters, the mugging brass, the preachers who make it a thing to be proud of, or the state that set the whole thing in motion, a moralizing middle-class idiot.

*Points one finger at state and other finger at criminal occupier*


Oh, and one little detail: the "mugger" doesn't get the "purse" in an imperialist army. I don't know exactly how many U.S. foot soldiers have stock in Halliburton or ExxonMobil, but my guess would be zero.

If that's true then it makes his choice to become a killer even more pathetic.


Malangyar, otoh, should probably just join the Green Party, where he won't have to worry about making a materialist analysis (or a difference).

I admit I'm certainly no Karl Marx or Lenin. :sleep:


There is no one in a first world country that benefits less from imperialist war than a soldier.

All the more reason not to become one in the first place.


I know a friend who joined to support his single mother, and got shot in the head and killed by a sniper. She is just as dirt poor as before.

Sounds like a great example of why not to try to survive by murdering Afghan families. You can't really help your family in a body bag. Also he probably put an even bigger burden on her because 1) She was worried every single day about his well being. 2) She was greatly stressed when he was killed.


Well, my point is not that soldiers have absolutely no culpability, or that they had literally no other options than to join the military. My point is that materialists don't waste their time targeting foot soldiers for blame. The real imperialists, in fact, do have air conditioning. That's how you can tell who they are.

Why not target both? This crap about the soldiers "just carrying out their orders" and being "working class buddies" is tiring. We heard it before at the Nuremberg Trials and it's a shitty excuse.

The foot soldiers do have air conditioning in their Humvees and base camps btw. Fortunately they don't seem to function very well without it. (see photo above of criminal occupier :lol:)

[n0thing]

Why are we supporting the Taliban again? Regardless of how they were deposed, the Afghanis obviously don't want them.

[Bright Banana Beard]

Why are we supporting the Taliban again? Regardless of how they were deposed, the Afghanis obviously don't want them.
We don't say anything about supporting Taliban, but they are anti-imperialist in sense that they don't want the America. This is nothing about supporting them.

[n0thing]

I swear to god, If Hitler comes back there will be someone on revleft supporting him.

[Bright Banana Beard]

I swear to god, If Hitler comes back there will be someone on revleft supporting him.
No. Anti-imperialist does not equate to supporting them. How many time do I have to tell you? They just fighting against the USA. So your a bourgeois who support USA domination to everyone because the USA hated Taleban?

[Psy]

I swear to god, If Hitler comes back there will be someone on revleft supporting him.
Hitler would be 120 years old now, meaning even if the theories of him surviving WWII are true he'd be dead by now, in order words a corpse.

[n0thing]

No. Anti-imperialist does not equate to supporting them. How many time do I have to tell you? They just fighting against the USA. So your a bourgeois who support USA domination to everyone because the USA hated Taleban?
You fucking idiot...

[n0thing]

Hitler would be 120 years old now, meaning even if the theories of him surviving WWII are true he'd be dead by now, in order words a corpse.
You too

[JimmyJazz]

Why not target both? This crap about the soldiers "just carrying out their orders" and being "working class buddies" is tiring. We heard it before at the Nuremberg Trials and it's a shitty excuse.

It's clear what purpose the demonization of Nazis has served for the American and British governments and bourgeoisies; it has fueled the creation of a myth whereby the status of the Americans and British as forces for good in the world can never be questioned.

What purpose the demonization of soldiers serves for leftists is less clear, and you haven't even attempted to offer an answer to this question. So of course I just assume you blame soldiers because you like to vent your anger at imperialism in unproductive ways over the internet.

[Small Geezer]

It almost makes me want to say (and you will forgive me, my comrades) insh'Allah the Afghan Liberation Organisation will be victorious!

Even though I consider myself politically influenced by Left Communism and Situationism.

[PRC-UTE]

Little to no native troops is a pretty fuckin big Achilles' heel like.

Say the USA/UK forces murder the Taleban and its allies into submission - it would matter sweet fuck all if there is basically no confidence in the Afghan govt. That is the real war.

It was the same in Vietnam. The few times the USA was successful in some regions, it didn't matter, because the locals saw American troops they knew would not be staying indefinitely doing the fighting, not south Vietnamese forces.

By contrast, Britain was successful in Ireland by using locals against locals by the end of the Troubles.

[Hiero]

Why are we supporting the Taliban again? Regardless of how they were deposed, the Afghanis obviously don't want them.

I don't think it is obvious. What makes it obvious?

The Taliban are quite reactionary, but given the complex nature of rural areas in this area it is quite hard to determine if the Taliban enforce themselves or they are accepted into village areas.

[jo stalling]

commie bastards,you should all enlist in the soviet army!

[brigadista]

well those gung ho yankee troops in that vid obviously dont know about the US CONSCRIPTED troops in Vietnam who smoked up a storm and also dropped acid on the front line - they didnt want to be there just like those Afghan men..... I am not a Taliban supporter but from the recent news seems like the taliban are winning...despite all their US "discipline"..

[Small Geezer]

Do you fullahs' know much about th ALO (Afghanistan Liberation Organisation)?

They were a marxist militia and party in Afghanistan.

Against the Islamist and the Soviet occupations!

[Nakidana]

What purpose the demonization of soldiers serves for leftists is less clear, and you haven't even attempted to offer an answer to this question. So of course I just assume you blame soldiers because you like to vent your anger at imperialism in unproductive ways over the internet.

What a silly way to ask me a question. You're a communist, ask me straight out instead of this "you haven't even attempted to offer an answer to" rubbish.

The purpose of the criticism (I'm sorry it's not demonization, the soldiers really do kill men, women and children) of the actions of occupying soldiers, is to spread the viewpoint among the people, that signing up to go kill the people of Afghanistan or Iraq is not in any way acceptable.

Create an atmosphere of disgust (And rightfully so!) for these horrible actions among the people and we might just deter one more young man from choosing killing over McD's.

This is not only for the sake of the people of Iraq or Afghanistan btw. Many of the young men come back if not in a body bag then with mental problems. Support the troops, BRING THEM HOME!


So of course I just assume you blame soldiers because you like to vent your anger at imperialism in unproductive ways over the internet.

Well I guess I am guilty of that. I do vent my anger at imperialism a lot, not only over the internet but whenever the opportunity presents itself. A guy once stated in front of me that the "situation is different today" because we have human rights. I laughed out loud and commended him on his great joke. He looked utterly aghast at my laughing at human rights. I asked him if he'd ever heard of Abu Ghraib. He said no.

And that's why we need to criticise the soldiers. End of story. :castro:

[Nakidana]

commie bastards,you should all enlist in the soviet army!

wut

[Pogue]

commie bastards,you should all enlist in the soviet army!

Can I finish education first or is that out of the...

hang on a minute


oh i c

soviet army no longer exists

You nearly got me there chum! :o

[khad]

well those gung ho yankee troops in that vid obviously dont know about the US CONSCRIPTED troops in Vietnam who smoked up a storm and also dropped acid on the front line - they didnt want to be there just like those Afghan men..... I am not a Taliban supporter but from the recent news seems like the taliban are winning...despite all their US "discipline"..
A lot of it must do with the quality of troops recruited. As that Afghan officer in the video noted, most of those guys are petty crooks that villages rounded up and sold to the army so that they would be someone else's problem.

I've heard varying things about Afghan soldiers. On the other side of the border, in Pakistan, many officers speak positively of their Pashtun troops, describing them as very sharp and able to learn quickly.

I know the Soviet Army became criminalized and had a catastrophic breakdown in morale in the late 80s when Gorbachev "reformed" draft laws to exempt college students and lowered the bar to accept drug addicts and petty crooks. This also resulted in army hazing turning completely brutal, making it even less of a career option for any sane human being.

[khad]

Nonetheless, I won't complain about the weakness of the puppet Afghan forces, nor it hampering imperialist efforts in Afghanistan. The imperialist strategy, when you analyze it, is very good, and has a dangerous chance of succeeding.
FreeFocus, I finally have a response for you. It's been hard to read what the civilian response has been, but some news is getting through. This is what happens when you only recruit criminals and drug addicts into your ranks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090712/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_police


Afghans turn to Taliban in fear of own police

By Peter Graff Peter Graff Sun Jul 12, 9:57 am ET

PANKELA, Afghanistan (Reuters) – As British troops moved into the village newly freed from Taliban control, they heard one message from the anxious locals: for God's sake do not bring back the Afghan police.

U.S. and British troops have launched a campaign to seize control of Helmand province, about half of which was in Taliban hands, and restore Afghan government institutions.

But as they advance, they are learning uncomfortable facts about their local allies: villagers say the government's police force was so brutal and corrupt that they welcomed the Taliban as liberators.

"The police would stop people driving on motorcycles, beat them and take their money," said Mohammad Gul, an elder in the village of Pankela, which British troops have been securing for the past three days after flying in by helicopter.

He pointed to two compounds of neighbors where pre-teen children had been abducted by police to be used for the local practice of "bachabazi," or sex with pre-pubescent boys.

"If the boys were out in the fields, the police would come and rape them," he said. "You can go to any police base and you will see these boys. They hold them until they are finished with them and then let the child go."
The Interior Ministry in Kabul said it would contact police commanders in the area before responding in detail.

When the Taliban arrived in the village 10 months ago and drove the police out, local people rejoiced, said Mohammad Rasul, a toothless elderly farmer who keeps a few cows and chickens in a neatly tended orchard of pomegranate trees, figs and grape vines.

Although his own son was killed by a Taliban roadside bomb five years ago, Rasul said the fighters earned their welcome in the village by treating people with respect.

"We were happy (after the Taliban arrived). The Taliban never bothered us," he said.

Before the Taliban arrived, the police had come to his house with a powerful landlord he called a "tyrant," who put a rifle in his face, searched through his compound and demanded money.

"If (the British) bring these people back, we can't live here. If they come back, I am sure they will burn everything," Rasul said.

MINES, SNIPERS

The British effort, Operation Panther's Claw, has focused on the Babaji district north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, an area of lush fields, vineyards and orchards, watered by carefully tended streams and canals fed by the Helmand river.

Taliban fighters have sown the area with homemade mines and sniper nests, inflicting the worst casualties of the war. At least 15 British soldiers have been killed in the past 12 days.

Further south, some 4,000 U.S. Marines have met less resistance after seizing three districts of the lower Helmand River valley in an air and ground assault.

The aim is to impose Afghan government control over most of the province in time for an August 20 presidential poll.

But commanders say holding the area for the longer term will depend on bringing in credible local security forces.

The United States has spent lavishly in the past eight years to build up the Afghan National Army (ANA).

But it left training the Afghan National Police (ANP) to Germany, which spent a fraction as much, sending a small number of civilian instructors.
The result is a police force that is widely acknowledged to be unprepared for work in a combat zone: the ANP suffered three times as many deaths as the ANA last year.

Washington is rushing to make up the gap, sending 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan this year to focus mainly on professionalizing the police.
Entire police forces are being removed from districts and sent to remote locations for intensive eight-week training.

Major Al Steele, commander of Bravo Company of 3 SCOTS, the Black Watch, who met elders in Pankela, acknowledged their concerns but said foreign forces were working on it.

"We have heard a lot of complaints about the ANP, but the Coalition Forces and the ANA are working together well, and the ANP are getting better," he told Gul Mohammad, squatting outside the elder's mud-walled compound.
The elder shrugged and flipped his prayer beads.

"Every time we heard that new ANP would come. But the old ANP would come back and it would be just like in the past."

"The people here trust the Taliban," he said. "If the police come back and behave the same way, we will support the Taliban to drive them out."

[brigadista]

lots of young afghan boys coming to the uk and claiming asylum at the moment -under 18s.