Winning hearts and minds with shock and awe

HELMAND, Afghanistan — For an operation that is supposed to be more about winning hearts and minds than defeating an enemy, there was an awful lot of combat hardware.

Operation Khanjar began shortly after midnight on Thursday in Helmand Province, with 4,000 U.S. marines, 650 Afghan soldiers, 50 aircraft and dozens of tanks. According to officials it is the largest U.S. offensive since Fallujah, in Iraq in 2004, and the first major test of a new policy announced last week by the recently appointed U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

The bellicose name (Khanjar means "dagger" in Pashto) conceals a kinder, gentler military offensive. Operation Dagger Thrust (its full anglicized name) is — according to the official line — supposed to convince the war-weary people of Helmand that the foreigners are here to stay. It is supposed to show that they will assist the Afghan government in driving out the insurgents and bringing peace and prosperity, thereby allowing local residents to forswear poppy cultivation and turn away from the Taliban.

“What makes Operation Khanjar different from those that have occurred before is the massive size of the force introduced, the speed at which it will insert, and the fact that where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commanding general of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, in a press release issued Thursday.

It’s not going to be easy. No sooner had the tanks begun to roll out of Camp Leatherneck, in western Helmand Province, than the target population began to grumble. After more than seven years of a tug-of-war between the insurgents and the foreign armies, Helmand’s population is in no mood to be patient.

“There are more than 60 tanks in our village,” said Sher Agha, a resident of Nawa district. “Instead of moving along the roads, they are in our fields. They have destroyed our farmland, and smashed everything. They are just like wild boars.”

Nawa, immediately to the south of the capital Lashkar Gah, has been largely under Taliban control for most of the past year, and is a major focus of Operation Khanjar. Residents are nervous about the possible consequences.

“The foreign troops have invaded our villages,” said Abdullah Jan Abedi, a resident of Nawa. “They are acting very aggressively on the streets — we have not seen so many foreign soldiers here before.”

But many Helmandis, chafing under the Taliban yoke, are welcoming the foreign military — with the proviso that they stay the course.

“We are under pressure both from the foreign soldiers, and from the Taliban,” said Khair Mohammad, from Garmsir district, in southern Helmand. Garmsir was the scene of a major Marine offensive last summer, which temporarily cleared out the insurgents. It is in Operation Khanjar’s sights, although according to locals no major action has yet taken place.

“Life has been very hard,” he continued. “The Taliban come to our houses at night, and demand dinner for 25 or 30 people at a time. There is nowhere for us to go. The foreigners should either conduct an expanded and sustained operation or they should stop.”

The provincial government is very upbeat about Operation Khanjar, at least publicly. But within their cheerful assessments lurks concern about possible civilian casualties, an issue that has caused enormous tension between the foreign community and the Afghan government over the past year.

“The operation is going very well,” said Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand. “It is designed to bring peace, employment and to give people a chance to participate in the elections. We just ask the foreign troops: ‘Be very careful.’”

That is exactly what has been promised: McChrystal issued a new tactical directive in late June that makes the protection of the civilian population the highest priority for U.S. soldiers.

Why, then, all the combat aircraft? A NATO official indicated that the planes were vital to the mission, and could have other uses than bombardment. But he would not rule out the use of air strikes in this operation.

“We only use air strikes when there is no other option,” he said. “And now, with the new tactical directive, it is less and less of an option. We can use air strikes only in extreme circumstances.”

There has not yet been any clarification of what "extreme circumstances" might entail.

The operation, if successful, could signal a major change in the fortunes of the violence-plagued southern province. For the past seven years, Helmandis have been bounced between foreign armies, the Taliban and an inefficient and corrupt central government. They have seen four governors in as many years, while poppy cultivation has soared to the point that Helmand alone supplies close to 60 percent of the world’s raw material for heroin.

If nothing else, there is hope that the arrival of the Americans signals a more serious commitment to tackling some of Helmand’s problems.

“We have always supported the idea of sustained military operations,” said Daud Ahmadi, spokesperson for the Helmand governor. We need a permanent peace. We Helmandis are tired of war. I hope that there will be no civilian casualties in this operation, and I hope that it continues until there is security in Helmand, until we have some room to breathe.”

The timing of Operation Khanjar is significant. Afghanistan is facing a presidential poll on Aug. 20, and there has been widespread concern that deteriorating security could lower turnout to the point where the legitimacy of the result would be called into question.

“We want to pave the way for good elections,” said Ahmadi. “This operation is critical. If successful, it will bring a better future to Helmand.”

Of course, the Taliban are not going to sit idly by while the foreign troops move into their territory. While there has not yet been any major resistance, there have been some signs that the insurgents are mobilizing.

“We can hear the Taliban shooting from a heavy machine gun,” said Sefatullah, a resident of the 31 West area of Nad Ali district. “And several rockets landed in our village this morning. No one was hurt, though.”

According to local observers, the Taliban are congregating in Khosrabad village in Nawa District. A resident of the village, who could not be named because of fear for his safety, confirmed a heavy Taliban presence.

“The Taliban are going around telling people to leave their houses,” he said. “Usually they do not let people escape, they want to use them as shields, but this time it is the opposite. They say they will inflict heavy casualties on the Americans.”

The Taliban, with their customary bravado, swear that they will fight the foreigners and win.

“I am a small commander in Nad Ali,” Mullah Izat said. “It is true that we cannot resist the foreigners all the time. But we will make them back down by laying mines and carrying out suicide attacks. We will win by guerrilla tactics. We will fight the foreigners as fiercely as possible.”

In Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, life was going on much as usual on Thursday. The shops were open, and residents were attending to business. But Operation Khanjar was the major topic of conversation in the local bazaar, reminding overly optimistic observers that there is a very long way to go in the battle for hearts and minds.

Mahmudullah, a tall man with a very big knife, was standing outside his butcher shop carving the liver out of a sheep carcass.

“The foreigners treat civilians the way I do this sheep,” he said. “You will see; the result of this operation will be civilian deaths. Aren’t I right?”

Jean MacKenzie reported from Kabul and Mohammad Ilyas Dayee from Helmand; Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Aziz Ahmad Shafe contributed reporting from Helmand.

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