The Afghan flag was raised over a town at the centre of a United States-led offensive to capture a key Taliban stronghold on Thursday, with the US Marines commander declaring it a “historic day”.
Mohammad Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand province, raised the green, red and black flag in Marjah, watched by Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, the commander of the US Marines in southern Afghanistan, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer said.
“It’s a very historical day, a new beginning,” Nicholson told AFP at the ceremony, attended by a crowd of several hundred residents, watched over by US Marine snipers stationed on the roofs of surrounding buildings.
About 15 000 US, Afghan and Nato forces launched Operation Mushtarak (“Together”) on February 13 in what has been billed the biggest military operation since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime.
Their mission was to capture the Marjah and Nad Ali areas of Helmand from the Taliban and drug lords in a major test of US President Barack Obama’s troop surge battling to end the eight-year Afghan war.
In what had characteristics of a victory celebration, Nicholson said of the assembly: “I am so moved by this, so very thrilled by the turnout.
“They are voting with their eyes, and they believe there is a fresh start for Marjah under the government of Afghanistan,” he told AFP.
Nicholson and Mangal, accompanied by Major General Nick Carter, the British commander of Nato forces in southern Afghanistan, arrived in Marjah early on Thursday by helicopter from Camp Bastion, a sprawling military base in Helmand.
Development and reconstruction
Mangal, who is expected to soon announce a plan for the development and reconstruction of the area once the Taliban threat has been eradicated, brought with him a portrait of President Hamid Karzai.
A Qur’anic prayer was read to the crowd once the flag had been raised over a non-descript building at the Marjah bazaar.
After the assault, Operation Mushtarak’s mission is to reassert the authority of the Western-backed Afghan government so that the next phases — consolidation and development — can begin.
Taliban snipers and booby-trap bombs had hampered progress of the troops, led by US Marines and including 4 400 Afghan soldiers.
Nicholson said on Wednesday that resistance had dwindled to almost nought as it seemed that Taliban fighters were melting away or blending in with residents.
“We had 39 contacts on day two. We didn’t have a single one on day nine,” he said during a battlefield tour on day 11 of the offensive.
“Marjah is a symbol,” he said, adding: “Our objectives now are the opening of the markets and the roads.”
Elite police battalions — trained by US Marines to reverse the image that Afghan people have of their police force as corrupt and abusive — have already moved into Marjah and are due to be reinforced, Nato has said.
Despite the apparent move towards victory by Nicholson and Mangal, residents are facing deteriorating conditions as food, medicine and other supplies run dangerously low, humanitarian agencies said.
Even as Taliban-planted bombs make movement in and out of Marjah perilous, residents have become so desperate they are risking the mine-laced roads to get help in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
“Families are coming night and day, whenever they find time,” said Ghulam Farooq Noorzai, Helmand’s director for refugees’ affairs.
Almost 4 000 families, accounting for tens of thousands of people of all ages, have fled the area since just before fighting began on February 13, aid workers and provincial officials have said. — AFP