Marines are encountering the difficulties of implementing our COIN strategy on the ground. In this case it has to do with a marketplace that the locals and Taliban use for different purposes, some fine others not so fine. Bill Ardolino of the Long War Journal reports. Several years ago, the Salaam Bazaar and the eponymous area surrounding it sprang up in the southern portion of the Now Zad district, after water reserves were discovered under the powdery desert soil. The farming community grew quickly, drawing a fluctuating population now estimated at around 2,000 residents. Many recent arrivals had been displaced from the Now Zad District Center after fleeing Operation Nasrat, the 2006 Taliban offensive that took over the district capital, followed by the massive British air and artillery counterattack that morphed that city into a ruined battleground. The Marines finally reclaimed the district center with Operation Cobra’s Anger, a December 2009 offensive that quickly routed the insurgents..... “Salaam Bazaar contained a known insurgent element, it was an illegal bazaar, and the [chain of command] wanted to get rid of it,” explained Lt. Colonel Mike Manning, commander of the 1/2 Marines. In addition, Salaam Bazaar was a staging area for Taliban attacks and was considered a drugs and weapons market. The piece does an excellent job of showing the multiple dynamics affecting every action we take. We must balance a need to stop activities that benefit the Taliban with the damage that may do to the locals whose help we must eventually gain. It also points out the futility of clearing areas that we cannot hold ourselves or turn over to Afghan forces capable of providing actual security.
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Posted
Aug 02 2010, 12:14 AM
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