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Hurting U.S. Efforts to Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay, NY Times
MARJA, Afghanistan — Since their offensive here in February, the Marines have flooded
Marja with hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. The tactic aims to win over wary
residents by paying them compensation for property damage or putting to work men
who would otherwise look to the Taliban for support.
The approach helped turn the tide of insurgency in Iraq. But in Marja, where the Taliban
seem to know everything — and most of the time it is impossible to even tell who they
are — they have already found ways to thwart the strategy in many places, including
killing or beating some who take the Marines’ money, or pocketing it themselves.
Just a few weeks since the start of the operation here, the Taliban have “reseized control
and the momentum in a lot of ways” in northern Marja, Maj. James Coffman, civil affairs
leader for the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, said in an interview in late March. “We have
to change tactics to get the locals back on our side.” Col. Ghulam Sakhi, an Afghan
National Police commander here, says his informants have told him that at least 30 Taliban
have come to one Marine outpost here to take money from the Marines as compensation
for property damage or family members killed during the operation in February.
“You shake hands with them, but you don’t know they are Taliban,” Colonel Sakhi said.
“They have the same clothes, and the same style. And they are using the money against
the Marines. They are buying I.E.D.’s and buying ammunition, everything.”
One tribal elder from northern Marja, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being
killed, said in an interview on Saturday that the killing and intimidation continued to worsen.
“Every day we are hearing that they kill people, and we are finding their dead bodies,” he
said. “The Taliban are everywhere.” The local problem points to the larger challenges ahead
as American forces expand operations in the predominantly Pashtun south, where the Taliban
draw most of their support and the government is deeply unpopular.
In Marja, the Taliban are hardly a distinct militant group, and the Marines have collided with a
Taliban identity so dominant that the movement appears more akin to the only political organi-
zation in a one-party town, with an influence that touches everyone. Even the Marines admit
to being somewhat flummoxed.
“We’ve got to re-evaluate our definition of the word ‘enemy,’ ” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson,
commander of the Marine expeditionary brigade in Helmand Province. “Most people here identify
themselves as Taliban.” “We have to readjust our thinking so we’re not trying to chase the
Taliban out of Marja, we’re trying to chase the enemy out,” he said. “We have to deal with
these people.”
The Marines hoped the work programs would be a quick way to put to work hundreds of “military-
aged males,” as they call them. In some places, that has worked. But the programs have run
into jeopardy in other parts of Marja, an area of about 80 square miles that is a patchwork of lush
farmland and small bazaars and villages. In northern Marja, the biggest blow came when the local
man hired to supervise the work programs was beaten by the Taliban and refused to help the
Marines any more. The programs are “completely dead in the water” there, Major Coffman said.
In addition to work programs, the Marines are using compensation payments to build support for
the newly appointed district governor of Marja, Hajji Abdul Zahir, telling people that to receive
money they must get his approval. That effort has proved equally vulnerable.
In late March, an Afghan man was beaten by the Taliban hours after he had gone to the Marine
outpost that houses Mr. Zahir’s office to collect his compensation. The Taliban took the money
and stole a similar amount as punishment, said Colonel Sakhi, the police commander. “My
greatest fear right now is not knowing if I have put money into the pockets of the Taliban,”
Major Coffman said.
Despite those reservations, the Marine strategy depends on sowing this community with buckets
of cash. The money is a bridge to a day when, in theory, the new Marja district government will
have more credibility than the Taliban. That would be a difficult goal even if the Americans did not
intend to rid the region of its lucrative poppy crop. While the United States has abandoned the
policy of widespread eradication of the crop, efforts to discourage planting it will still cost farmers
and power brokers huge sums.
“There are lots of people with lots of money invested here, and they are not just going to give
that up,“ General Nicholson said. “Now is the heavy lifting. We have to convince a very skeptical
population that we are here to help them.”
A steady flow of Taliban attacks have added to the challenge. After the February offensive, the
Marines used cash payments to prod more than 20 store owners at one bazaar in northern Marja
to open their doors, a key to stabilizing the area and reassuring residents. By late March, all but five
shops had closed, Major Coffman said. A prominent anti-Taliban senior elder was also gunned down
in northern Marja, prompting most of the 200 people in his district to flee. “They have completely
paralyzed all the folks here,” Major Coffman said.
In another sign of how little the Marines control outside their own outposts, one week ago masked
gunmen killed a 22-year-old man, Hazrat Gul, in broad daylight as he and four other Afghans built a
small bridge about a third of a mile from a military base in central Marja. Mr. Gul’s boss, an Afghan
who contracted with the Marines to build the bridge, says he has been warned four times by the
Taliban to stop working for the Americans. And even as the NATO-backed Mr. Zahir struggles to
gain credibility as Marja’s leader, the Taliban are working to fortify their own local administration.
According to Colonel Sakhi, the Taliban’s governor for Marja returned to the area on Monday for the
first time since the February assault and held a meeting with local elders, many of whom Mr. Zahir
is trying to win over. The Taliban governor warned them not to take money from the Marines or
cooperate with the Afghan government, Colonel Sakhi said.
In central Marja, where the work projects have had more success, about 2,000 Afghan men are
employed by programs financed by the First Battalion, Sixth Marines, said the unit’s civil affairs
leader, Maj. David Fennell. At one of the battalion’s outposts, shipments of cash arrive regularly.
The last was 10 million afghanis, or $210,000, stuffed into a rucksack. The battalion doles out
$150,000 a week, Major Fennell said. On one afternoon in late March, 40 Afghans could be seen
clearing away several acres of rubble remaining from a bazaar leveled during a NATO bomb strike
two years ago. The $190,000 contract is expected to take a month to complete.
But intimidation is still rife — even inside the walls of the Marines’ outpost. One woman who came
to the base crouched behind a Humvee and begged for help, saying that her husband had been
killed during the February operation.
First Lt. Aran Walsh offered her $1,700 worth of Afghan currency. He asked her why she hid herself.
“If they see me, they’ll inform the Taliban,” she said.
Moises Saman contributed reporting from Marja, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
MARJA, Afghanistan — Since their offensive here in February, the Marines have flooded
Marja with hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. The tactic aims to win over wary
residents by paying them compensation for property damage or putting to work men
who would otherwise look to the Taliban for support.
The approach helped turn the tide of insurgency in Iraq. But in Marja, where the Taliban
seem to know everything — and most of the time it is impossible to even tell who they
are — they have already found ways to thwart the strategy in many places, including
killing or beating some who take the Marines’ money, or pocketing it themselves.
Just a few weeks since the start of the operation here, the Taliban have “reseized control
and the momentum in a lot of ways” in northern Marja, Maj. James Coffman, civil affairs
leader for the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, said in an interview in late March. “We have
to change tactics to get the locals back on our side.” Col. Ghulam Sakhi, an Afghan
National Police commander here, says his informants have told him that at least 30 Taliban
have come to one Marine outpost here to take money from the Marines as compensation
for property damage or family members killed during the operation in February.
“You shake hands with them, but you don’t know they are Taliban,” Colonel Sakhi said.
“They have the same clothes, and the same style. And they are using the money against
the Marines. They are buying I.E.D.’s and buying ammunition, everything.”
One tribal elder from northern Marja, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being
killed, said in an interview on Saturday that the killing and intimidation continued to worsen.
“Every day we are hearing that they kill people, and we are finding their dead bodies,” he
said. “The Taliban are everywhere.” The local problem points to the larger challenges ahead
as American forces expand operations in the predominantly Pashtun south, where the Taliban
draw most of their support and the government is deeply unpopular.
In Marja, the Taliban are hardly a distinct militant group, and the Marines have collided with a
Taliban identity so dominant that the movement appears more akin to the only political organi-
zation in a one-party town, with an influence that touches everyone. Even the Marines admit
to being somewhat flummoxed.
“We’ve got to re-evaluate our definition of the word ‘enemy,’ ” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson,
commander of the Marine expeditionary brigade in Helmand Province. “Most people here identify
themselves as Taliban.” “We have to readjust our thinking so we’re not trying to chase the
Taliban out of Marja, we’re trying to chase the enemy out,” he said. “We have to deal with
these people.”
The Marines hoped the work programs would be a quick way to put to work hundreds of “military-
aged males,” as they call them. In some places, that has worked. But the programs have run
into jeopardy in other parts of Marja, an area of about 80 square miles that is a patchwork of lush
farmland and small bazaars and villages. In northern Marja, the biggest blow came when the local
man hired to supervise the work programs was beaten by the Taliban and refused to help the
Marines any more. The programs are “completely dead in the water” there, Major Coffman said.
In addition to work programs, the Marines are using compensation payments to build support for
the newly appointed district governor of Marja, Hajji Abdul Zahir, telling people that to receive
money they must get his approval. That effort has proved equally vulnerable.
In late March, an Afghan man was beaten by the Taliban hours after he had gone to the Marine
outpost that houses Mr. Zahir’s office to collect his compensation. The Taliban took the money
and stole a similar amount as punishment, said Colonel Sakhi, the police commander. “My
greatest fear right now is not knowing if I have put money into the pockets of the Taliban,”
Major Coffman said.
Despite those reservations, the Marine strategy depends on sowing this community with buckets
of cash. The money is a bridge to a day when, in theory, the new Marja district government will
have more credibility than the Taliban. That would be a difficult goal even if the Americans did not
intend to rid the region of its lucrative poppy crop. While the United States has abandoned the
policy of widespread eradication of the crop, efforts to discourage planting it will still cost farmers
and power brokers huge sums.
“There are lots of people with lots of money invested here, and they are not just going to give
that up,“ General Nicholson said. “Now is the heavy lifting. We have to convince a very skeptical
population that we are here to help them.”
A steady flow of Taliban attacks have added to the challenge. After the February offensive, the
Marines used cash payments to prod more than 20 store owners at one bazaar in northern Marja
to open their doors, a key to stabilizing the area and reassuring residents. By late March, all but five
shops had closed, Major Coffman said. A prominent anti-Taliban senior elder was also gunned down
in northern Marja, prompting most of the 200 people in his district to flee. “They have completely
paralyzed all the folks here,” Major Coffman said.
In another sign of how little the Marines control outside their own outposts, one week ago masked
gunmen killed a 22-year-old man, Hazrat Gul, in broad daylight as he and four other Afghans built a
small bridge about a third of a mile from a military base in central Marja. Mr. Gul’s boss, an Afghan
who contracted with the Marines to build the bridge, says he has been warned four times by the
Taliban to stop working for the Americans. And even as the NATO-backed Mr. Zahir struggles to
gain credibility as Marja’s leader, the Taliban are working to fortify their own local administration.
According to Colonel Sakhi, the Taliban’s governor for Marja returned to the area on Monday for the
first time since the February assault and held a meeting with local elders, many of whom Mr. Zahir
is trying to win over. The Taliban governor warned them not to take money from the Marines or
cooperate with the Afghan government, Colonel Sakhi said.
In central Marja, where the work projects have had more success, about 2,000 Afghan men are
employed by programs financed by the First Battalion, Sixth Marines, said the unit’s civil affairs
leader, Maj. David Fennell. At one of the battalion’s outposts, shipments of cash arrive regularly.
The last was 10 million afghanis, or $210,000, stuffed into a rucksack. The battalion doles out
$150,000 a week, Major Fennell said. On one afternoon in late March, 40 Afghans could be seen
clearing away several acres of rubble remaining from a bazaar leveled during a NATO bomb strike
two years ago. The $190,000 contract is expected to take a month to complete.
But intimidation is still rife — even inside the walls of the Marines’ outpost. One woman who came
to the base crouched behind a Humvee and begged for help, saying that her husband had been
killed during the February operation.
First Lt. Aran Walsh offered her $1,700 worth of Afghan currency. He asked her why she hid herself.
“If they see me, they’ll inform the Taliban,” she said.
Moises Saman contributed reporting from Marja, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
