NATO launched a major offensive today against the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in central Helmand. The strategy is interesting and unique for a few reasons

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7/5/2017 NATO goes into Marjah | International Affairs at LSEhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/ideas/2010/02/nato-goes-into-marjah/ 1/1Feb 13 2010NATO goes into MarjahLSE IdeasNATO launched a major offensive today against the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in central Helmand. The strategy isinteresting and unique for a few reasons. First, the attack was widely publicised in an attempt to get civilians out of the way toavoid casualties, but also in the hopes that the inhabitants of Marjah would side with the NATO forces and inform on theTaliban. Second, this is the first NATO assault where Afghan government forces – military, civilian, and police – will befollowing immediately in the wake the NATO operation. NATO forces will also remain in situ, but the Afghans are supposedlygoing to be starting with development and governance as soon as the dust follows. This is good in theory, but it remains to beseen how effective this has been. There as supposedly 1,000 Afghan police following on NATO’s heels. If these are 1,000honest and well trained police then Marjah will certainly be better off. If these are a bunch of poorly trained, corrupt andbelligerent police – problems endemic in the Afghan police force – I am not sure their presence will do much good. UltimatelyMarjah will be a test case for the wider NATO and Obama strategy in Afghanistan. The question is, why should the Taliban stayand fight in Marjah when they can melt away and move to other parts of the country not saturated with international forces?Hopefully the new strategy works, but I have my doubts given that international forces will never be present enough in all partsof the country to shut down the Taliban. Therefore, in addition to offensive operations the Government of Afghanistan needs toestablish parameters outlining how to involve some Taliban in the government, while the international community needs to bemuch more effective at training and equipping Afghan police and military forces.This entry was posted in Middle East, United States. Bookmark the permalink.

NATO goes into Marjah

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