Trump wins support for Afghan strategy in volatile Helmand
CAMP SHORAB, Afghanistan: Marines in Afghanistan’s Helmand say Donald Trump’s decision to keep boots on the ground indefinitely gives them ‘all the time in the world’ to retake the province, once the symbol of US intervention but now a Taliban stronghold.
They may need it. At the hot, dusty Camp Shorab, where many of the recently deployed Marines train their Afghan counterparts in flat, desert terrain, the Afghans admit their army still cannot fight alone.
The Taliban control or contest 12 out of Helmand’s 14 districts and continue to inflict stinging blows on Afghan forces, who have been struggling to beat back the insurgents across the country since taking the lead on security from Nato forces at the end of 2014.
Sixteen years since the American-led invasion, and after decades of near- constant war in the country, the Islamist extremists show few signs of flagging, despite being heavily out-gunned by the might of the US military.
With no need to pay attention to four-year election cycles, the Taliban’s fight against their technologically- superior foes is often summed up in the proverb: “You may have the watches, but we have the time”.
But Trump’s announcement that the US committment to Afghanistan is open- ended might just be enough to reverse the tide.
“We have all the time in the world ... to accomplish the mission the right way,” said Staff Sergeant George Caldwell, one of the Marines based at Camp Shorab.
Around 300 Marines returned to Helmand in April, a fraction of the more than 20,000 stationed in the poppy-growing province when it was the centrepiece of the US invasion. Previously, they were on the frontline against the Taliban. Now they are part of Nato’s ‘train, advise and assist’ mission, focused on making Afghan security forces strong enough to beat back the insurgents on their own.
Afghan troops are drilled in clearing insurgents from mudbrick compounds, evacuating wounded soldiers by helicopter and locating improvised explosive devices hidden in the ground.
It is part of the ‘operational readiness cycle’ launched by the Marines that takes war-weary Afghan soldiers off the battlefield for 12 weeks of training and rest.
US trainers say the Afghans are making progress, retaking Nawa district in July after nine months in Taliban hands.
But the insurgents are still on the offensive, carrying out a number of suicide attacks in Helmand in recent weeks.
In the province — as in the rest of the country — shockingly high casualties, along with desertions, corruption and exhaustion have eroded the morale of Afghan forces.
Major General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, who was appointed to lead the Afghan army’s 215th Corps in Helmand last year, said the continued US support outlined by Trump was crucial.
“Our army is not mature enough to fight alone,” said Ahmadzai.
In his speech last month Trump refused to offer specifics, but officials have said the additional US troops could number some 4,000, on top of the 11,000- strong force already on the ground. — AFP