US engages villages in anti-Taliban campaign

Watching from the sidelines was a 30-year-old Army Captain Joshua McGary, who along with fellow soldiers had been ambushed last month by the Taliban in a ravine less than three miles away. ‘‘I wonder how many of these guys were shooting at us,’’ he mused during a break in the meeting.

The moment underscored the challenge confronting US troops as they seek to bolster the authority of Afghanistan’s shaky central government in the face of resistance from the Taliban. US forces engaged the Taliban in some of the heaviest fighting of the past several years as the soldiers moved deep into mountainous areas of southeastern Afghanistan, building a network of small bases manned jointly with Afghan forces. The areas had previously served as rebel sanctuaries.

In the last few months, according to US military commanders, that aggressive strategy has appeared to pay dividends, hindering the Taliban’s ability to assemble large groups of fighters and, at least in some areas, permitting more of an emphasis on political and humanitarian missions such as the governor’s trip to Solon.

But the insurgency is far from over. By many accounts, the Taliban fighters are becoming more sophisticated, eschewing direct engagements with US forces —which they invariably lose—in favour of tactics that are harder to counter. These include the growing use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, as well as suicide bombings, including car-bomb attacks on convoys of US or allied forces, and assassinations of government officials and police.

So far this year, the fight against the insurgents has claimed the lives of 86 American soldiers out of the 204 killed since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001.

During their recent visit, the governor and his military entourage initially received a cool reception. Villagers complained that Afghan troops had stolen food and sweets while searching houses for weapons during a recent sweep of the area with US forces. ‘‘We are scared of coalition forces and also the Taliban,’’ said Haji Mohammed, a 38-year-old farmer. ‘‘We don’t know what to do.’’

But the governor did his best to reassure the villagers, promising to replace the stolen food and treating them with exquisite courtesy. During the governor’s speech, for example, Major Doug Vincent, the 2nd Battalion’s executive officer, ordered his men down from the roof of one compound when he learned that the women inside had complained that the soldiers’ presence was keeping them from going into the courtyard to do chores. Food and clothing was later deposited by a helicopter.

LATWP

Disciplinary action

Four US soldiers face disciplinary action for burning the bodies of Taliban rebels, but they won’t be prosecuted because their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns, the US military said after an inquiry into a videotaped incident that sparked outrage in Afghanistan.Television video recorded on October 1 in a violent part of southern Afghanistan showed US soldiers setting fire to the bodies and boasting about the act on to taunt insurgents suspected to be hiding. AP