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Afghanistan: Operation Achilles Heel?
International forces claim success in their latest operation in Helmand, but locals say the Taleban stopped fighting so that the opium poppy harvest could go ahead.
By IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 250, 18-Apr-07)
As international forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand region engage in their biggest offensive yet to drive the Taleban out of the north of the troubled province, everyone agrees the insurgents have not put up much of a fight.
However, IWPR has been told by local residents that the relative calm has little to do with a successful security operation. Instead, they say, the Taleban have staged a tactical withdrawal to prevent the opium harvest being harmed by fighting.
Operation Achilles, which began on March 6, was billed as “the largest multinational combined operation launched to date”, and will eventually involve 4,500 troops from the International Security Force, ISAF, and up to 1,000 Afghan National Security Forces, ANSF.
An ISAF press release issued on April 16 suggested that the tough tactics were working, “Helmand province showing signs of [economic] growth due to increasing security.”
The reason for the improvement, ISAF said, was Operation Achilles.
Helmand residents were left either chuckling or shaking their heads at the suggestion. From their vantage point at ground zero in the conflict, the new phase of relative calm will be temporary.
“There are no big problems in Helmand right now because everyone is busy with the poppy harvest,” said Abdul Halek, from Nawzad district. “The elders have asked the Taleban to leave until the harvest is in, so that NATO does not come and bomb the fields or the harvesters. But I don’t know what will happen afterwards.”
Six weeks in, the results of Operation Achilles are mixed. The bombing campaign is terrorising civilian residents - potentially winning new recruits for the Taleban - while yielding little in the way of concrete results.
The one major victory for ISAF came in early April, when foreign troops assisted by ANSF took back the district centre of Sangin, a little over 50 kilometres north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
More
http://iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=334968&apc_state=henh
As international forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand region engage in their biggest offensive yet to drive the Taleban out of the north of the troubled province, everyone agrees the insurgents have not put up much of a fight.
However, IWPR has been told by local residents that the relative calm has little to do with a successful security operation. Instead, they say, the Taleban have staged a tactical withdrawal to prevent the opium harvest being harmed by fighting.
Operation Achilles, which began on March 6, was billed as “the largest multinational combined operation launched to date”, and will eventually involve 4,500 troops from the International Security Force, ISAF, and up to 1,000 Afghan National Security Forces, ANSF.
An ISAF press release issued on April 16 suggested that the tough tactics were working, “Helmand province showing signs of [economic] growth due to increasing security.”
The reason for the improvement, ISAF said, was Operation Achilles.
Helmand residents were left either chuckling or shaking their heads at the suggestion. From their vantage point at ground zero in the conflict, the new phase of relative calm will be temporary.
“There are no big problems in Helmand right now because everyone is busy with the poppy harvest,” said Abdul Halek, from Nawzad district. “The elders have asked the Taleban to leave until the harvest is in, so that NATO does not come and bomb the fields or the harvesters. But I don’t know what will happen afterwards.”
Six weeks in, the results of Operation Achilles are mixed. The bombing campaign is terrorising civilian residents - potentially winning new recruits for the Taleban - while yielding little in the way of concrete results.
The one major victory for ISAF came in early April, when foreign troops assisted by ANSF took back the district centre of Sangin, a little over 50 kilometres north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
More
http://iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=334968&apc_state=henh
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