MARJAH, Afghanistan: A senior British commander has warned it could take weeks to wrest control of the Afghan town of Marjah because of determined Taliban resistance, as NATO said four more soldiers had been killed in the operation.
The commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, Major General Nick Carter, cautioned against “triumphalism” in Marjah, and said it could be months until the US-led forces could be sure of controlling the area.
The troops engaged in Operation Mushtarak (Together) would need another 25 to 30 days just to secure the Taliban stronghold, said Carter.
“In three months’ time or thereabouts we should have a pretty fair idea about whether we’ve been successful. But I would be very cautious about any triumphalism just yet,” he said.
The offensive is being keenly watched as the first major test of US President Barack Obama’s strategy to end eight years of war by driving out the hardline militia and reasserting government control.
Obama has ordered more than 50,000 extra troops into Afghanistan since taking office. Fresh pledges from NATO allies will raise to 150,000 the overall number of foreign troops by August.
NATO said four of its soldiers were killed on Thursday during the operation, three of them by mines and one by gunfire. It did not give their nationalities, but London said it had lost two of its soldiers during the day.
Carter’s assessment and the news of fresh allied deaths stood in marked contrast to US pronouncements.
The Pentagon remained upbeat on the progress of the campaign, which kicked off a week ago and pits 15,000 US, Afghan and NATO troops against a Taliban force numbering between 400 and 1,000.
“The squeeze is being put to the Taliban,” said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, adding the United States was “pleased with the rate of progress” despite the threat posed by “a slew” of bombs planted across Marjah.
“Mushtarak” has been billed as the biggest assault since the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban.
General Mohaidin Ghori, the commander of the estimated 4,400 Afghan troops taking part in the operation, had said this week that Marjah and the Nad Ali district were almost under control.
But he painted a bleak picture for the region’s civilian population, saying the militants put “women and children on the roofs of homes and are firing from behind them.”
In one case, rebels were seen firing from the window of a house packed with non-combatants, with a crying child forced to stand in front of the compound, said an Afghan military report.
Taliban spokesmen have denied using human shields.
Thousands of people have fled the stricken area for the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and neighbouring provinces including Nimroz, where the UN’s World Food Programme handed out food to hundreds of hungry families.
The area is home to around 80,000 people and although Amnesty International has said about 10,000 civilians have fled, the rights group warned that thousands were trapped in the conflict zone.
Pakistan raised concerns that Afghan refugees and fighters could flee across the frontier to escape the offensive — as happened after the 2001 invasion, leading to an explosion of militant activity in the border region.
In a blow to NATO, an allied air strike in the northern province of Kunduz mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded two others on Thursday, said interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.
NATO said it was investigating the strike, which could add to strains following repeated warnings by President Hamid Karzai about civilian deaths.
