Afghan push — hype or history in the making?

Few signs on the ground of the "spectacular advances" claimed by the combined U.S. and Afghan forces.

Jean MacKenzie and Mohammad Ilyas DayeeFebruary 18, 2010 14:38Updated May 30, 2010 12:21

U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines search an empty house during an operation in the town of Marjah in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, Feb. 18, 2010. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — Six days into the battle for Marjah, the spin doctors in Kabul and Washington may be regretting all the advance hype. With 15,000 combined Afghan, American and British forces arrayed against what was thought to be a handful of insurgents, victory had seemed assured.

But instead of “breaking the back of the Taliban,” Operation Moshtarak is bogged down in a hostile landscape full of mines, snipers and increasingly frustrated residents.

“Since the foreign troops descended on Karoh Charahi, near our house, they have not been able to come up out of their trenches,” said Sher Agha, a resident of Marjah. “The resistance of the Taliban has increased a lot since the beginning. The foreign forces have not taken even 20 percent of Marjah.”

The glowing press reports of the first days have become a bit more somber of late; the latest release by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) simply said that “Combined forces have taken control of some key areas and efforts to control insurgent movement have been relatively successful.”

The Taliban were far less reserved in their public statements. Tariq Ghazniwal, another of the Taliban’s self-styled spokesmen, issued an open invitation to journalists to come to Marjah and see for themselves what is going on.

“Such a visit will … show who has the upper hand in the area,” he said. “In fact, the invading forces have made no spectacular advances since the beginning of the operations. They have descended from helicopters in limited areas of Marjah and are now under siege.”

The governor of Helmand Gulab Mangal, after a visit to Marjah where he raised the Afghan flag over the district center, told journalists in Lashkar Gah that Operation Moshtarak was on track.

“In the Loy Charahi area of Marjah the combined forces have advanced 3 kilometers [1.9 miles],” he said. “We will keep the operation going until Marjah is clear of Al Qaeda and the enemies of Afghanistan.”

He admitted that progress has been a bit disappointing.

“There are two reasons for this,” he said. “One, there are a lot of civilians around, so we are being careful. Secondly, there are a lot of mines planted, and it slows us down. But it doesn’t mean that the Taliban are able to resist or that we cannot advance.”