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Afghan dispatch: Locals think British are powerful, clever and cunning. If the enemy are stronger, it must be part of the plan
Jerome Starkey in Lashkar Gah13 Jul 2009
People in Helmand believe in the wild conspiracy that British troops have been helping the Taliban. Despite the grim toll of bodies going home in coffins, many Afghans in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, are convinced that British troops have been supporting the insurgents.
"Of course we think they are supporting the Taliban," said shopkeeper Saad Alikhi. "When the international troops first came here, they cleaned up all the Taliban, all over Afghanistan, within a month. Now I find there's a mine exploding in front of my shop."
Security has plummeted across the province since British troops arrived three years ago and ordinary people have watched the Taliban grow stronger.
Many are struggling to understand why Britain, with all the might of Nato and America, has failed to beat the Taliban. "Since the British troops came here, you cannot even go out of the buildings because there are mines everywhere," said colonel Abdul Ghafour, a former head of Helmand's police. "Everywhere there are Taliban."
Theories are rife in Lashkar Gah's bazaars, but the prevalence of the myth that Britain has been helping the insurgents is evidence of how far UK troops still have to go to convince local people they are there to help.
I travelled to Lashkar Gah to find out what ordinary people thought about the spiralling violence. It was the first time a British journalist had visited Helmand without a military escort for almost a year. The number of people who said they thought Britain was supporting the Taliban was astonishing.
The head of Lashkar Gah's council of religious scholars, Haji Maulavi Mokhtar, admitted the myth was firmly embedded in the "popular consciousness".
"Even among government officials, it has made them hopeless. They told me secretly," he said. For three years British troops have been over-stretched and under-resourced, battling to contain the Taliban in their spiritual and financial heartland. Most of Britain's fighting soldiers were stuck patrolling the ground outside their bases. When they did clear areas of Taliban, they had to fight elsewhere and couldn't stay.
"The Taliban come back and security gets worse," said Mohammed Sabir, a student from Garmsir who fled to Lashkar Gah to go to school. "The fighting begins again and in between the civilians get killed."
One former diplomat, who was based in Helmand, said people in the province couldn't believe the British were "making it worse by accident". "People there think the British are powerful, clever and cunning," he said. "They remember the legends of Great Gamesmen from the 19th century, and they assume that if the Taliban are getting stronger it must be part of the plan."
More than 8,000 US marines have been deployed to the province as part of Barack Obama's Afghan surge. It has freed around 3,000 British troops involved in Operation Panther's Claw, a bloody operation to clear the terrain between Lashkar Gah and Gereshk, Helmand's second biggest town.
Officials insist the extra troops will let them hold the ground they win off the Taliban, for the first time in years.
But the Taliban are fighting back, hard. Nato generals said the Taliban have diverted their best fighters and commanders from neighbouring provinces to defend the swathes of Helmand they control.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the insurgents, vowed to fight for every inch of ground.
"The British and the Americans won't have a single night's rest," he said. "We will stand against them all the way."
Reader views (3)
J.M.Ritchie has hit the nail right on the head. This may seem barbaric but the Taliban are nothing but barbarians
- David Ludwig, Worcester. England, 06/10/2009 23:24
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It is so pointless,bring all the troops back..this country is broke and no more young men should die for nothing!!
- Jean, London England, 06/10/2009 22:24
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The way to beat the Taliban is total warfare. Do to them what they do to you but much, much more visciously. Booby trap them, make them terrified to move anywhere without risking being blown apart. PE4 and other modern electronics plus special forces tactics. Kill them in their beds, slit every second throat and make them lose control of their bowels at every turn. These swine only respect one thing, even greater brutality than they can inflict, and then some. Fight to win or don't bother at all. I have seen this tactic in action personally, it works.
- James Macleod Ritchie, Oyster Bay Cove, 06/10/2009 22:24
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