Afghans near Marja urged to help keep Taliban out

Reporting from Nawa, Afghanistan — With the military offensive to drive Taliban fighters from their sanctuary in Marja continuing, the Marines are moving to prevent the Taliban from returning to other communities in Helmand Province.

Lt. Col. Matt Baker, commander of the 1st battalion, 3rd Marine regiment, said that intelligence reports and the sudden change in the placement of roadside bombs suggest that the Taliban are trying to return to the places from which they fled last year when Marines descended on the sprawling province in southern Afghanistan.

At a shurra held Saturday in an outlying neighborhood of Nawa, Baker urged 200-plus Afghan males to help the Marines keep the Taliban from reasserting their dominance in this agricultural area.

“The people need to be brave,” Baker said. “The reality is that many of the insurgents from Marja will try to come to Nawa. We have to be a strong team and force them out.”

Baker said that in recent days more roadside bombs have been found in the “green zone” of Nawa near the bazaar and the district government center. Before the Marja offensive, most roadside bombs were being found in less-traveled roads where it was unlikely Marine vehicles would drive.

Haji Abdul Manaf, the district governor, appealed to his countrymen’s masculine pride as he urged them to report any signs of Taliban returning to Nawa.

“How are you going to guard your area if you’re scared of Taliban and won’t come out of your house?” Manaf said in a loud, commanding voice.

Before the arrival of the Marines last summer, Taliban fighters controlled Nawa, extorting merchants, closing the school and clinic, and killing anyone who opposed them. They fled to Marja after several weeks of sporadic gunfire aimed at Marines.

In Nawa, the bazaar has reopened and the clinic and school are open. Still, progress is slow and incremental, amid bureaucratic wrangling between the local officials and the provincial government at Laska-Gar.

Manaf also pleaded with the crowd not to believe rumors of corruption. “I am not a corrupt governor,” he said. “I promise you people, anything I get will go to you.”

Even from their sanctuary in Marja, Taliban fighters have continued to strike at Nawa residents. Three members of the community council were assassinated, leading the rest of the two-dozen council members to seek refuge in the district government headquarters adjacent to the Marine base.

Fear of the Taliban has been slow to eradicate, officials said.

Baker, in an interview, noted that five weeks ago when he came to the same part of Nawa for a meeting, none of the Afghans would volunteer to get involved in construction projects. On Saturday, dozens besieged him with proposals for building roads and bridges, renovating public buildings, and cleaning irrigation canals that have become clogged.

Among other tactics, the Marines are bringing a Muslim chaplain to Nawa to talk to the community’s elders and religious leaders. Support for the Taliban has been strongest among mullahs and others, who often tell their faithful to oppose the Americans and any Afghan who sides with them.

The Muslim chaplain will attempt to dissuade the mullahs from taking that approach. His presence will also be in opposition to the idea that the U.S. has been waging a war on Islam, an accusation often made by the Taliban.

“Religion is one of the strengths of Afghanistan,” said Baker, adding that the Marines are in Nawa to stay. Although his Hawaii-based battalion will leave in a few months, another will take its place, he said.

“Your Marines, the Nawa battalions, are ready to keep working with you,” he said.

tony.perry@latimes.com