In some respects, Helmand province is the most important province in all of Afghanistan. The Taliban can do what they do because they have money- much of that is gained from the opium trad. Helmand province is ground-zero for that. If that funding were cut off or significantly-reduced they'd have a difficult time maintaining "little t" "$10 a day" Taliban which make up a large portion of the group's fighters.
The U.S. Marines have begun a battle for the trust of the Afghans in Helmand. It sounds very promising.
The actual fight for Helmand province has yet to be finished, of course. It'll get bloody all over Afghanistan but especially so in the south and east. U.S. Marines and U.K. soldiers will be launching a major offensive soon. There's still a lot of territory controlled by the Taliban including the town of Marja, and more land that's less than secure.
However, of equal if not greater importance is the fight for hearts and minds. A battle is being waged for the trust of the locals, and the U.S. Marines seem to be taking a page from humanitarian Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. If you aren't familiar with his work try to get familiar with his work because Stones Into Schools is one of the best books I've ever picked up. From C.J. Chivers of the New York Times;
In the province’s lower Nawa District, many conventional missions for now are a low priority. Airstrikes and high-explosive artillery fire are in disfavor. Even mortar fire is rare.
Instead, in places where it is able, the infantry is sending patrols to enter into development contracts with local men. The ambition is to use local labor to build bridges over canals, shore up irrigation systems, repair water gates or small dams and, in the most determined contest of influence against the Taliban, renovate mosques.
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"When we started to look at the intelligence reports and the interviews with detainees, one of the things we kept hearing was that ‘the Marines are here to usurp our religion,’ " Captain Majka said.
Once the Marines understood the Taliban’s message, he added, "We made mosque refurbishment a large part of our campaign."
The Marines featured in the story placed a heavy priority on mosques to assure the locals that they are not there to "usurp" their religion. Sorry, Ann Coulter. Basic infrastructure is desperately needed in Afghanistan, relatively-inexpensive to execute, and it provides jobs to people who need it. Using local help is the only way.
However, if they have taken a page from Greg Mortenson, then they missed all of the other pages; the only way to counter the radical-Talibanization of men is to provide an alternative and quality form of education. Seriously. Bridges are important. So are irrigation systems and water gates and small dams. Sure, mosques are important too for winning over trust. But where the heck are the schools for the boys and girls that will be the future of Afghanistan?
I'm encouraged by some things; Mark Sedwill's selection as NATO's chief of civilian efforts sounds very promising. But, like anyone else, we'll have to wait and see how things pan out in 2010 and beyond. With any luck Mr. Sedwill will pay plenty of attention to building schools.