Stretched too thin in the summer of 2006, the British forces sought another solution. The village elders arranged a truce with the Taliban and supported by a local police militia, took control. This was welcomed by the local population as the conflict and destruction was virtually eliminated.
    This arrangement seemed to be going well until January 2007 when the U.S. launched an air strike which killed the brother of the local Taliban commander and eight of his supporters. In February 2007, the Taliban took control of Musa Qala and put the elders who had supported the agreement in jail.
    President Karzai then removed the new governor, Eng. Daoud, who had facilitated the truce. U.S. General Dan McNeill, head of the NATO-ISAF forces, also spoke out against any truces with the Taliban.
    In December 2007 NATO and Afghan National Army forces launched a new assault on Musa Qala. It was alleged that the Taliban and the town’s elders were protecting local farmers who were growing poppies. Despite the early withdrawal of the Taliban forces, the NATO forces employed air strikes and artillery. Many buildings were destroyed, and the population fled the town. Afghan journalists who went to Musa Qala reported that 40 civilians were killed. Local citizens accused ANA soldiers of deliberately firing on civilians and looting the local stores. Brigadier-General Carlos Branco of NATO insisted that no civilians were killed.
    While the Canadian media proclaimed this a major victory, the Asia Times reported that “the killing and looting that accompanied the NATO operation left a trail of bitterness that the Taliban will easily exploit. All reports indicate that NATO troops resorted to indiscriminate use of artillery and air strikes against civilians.”
    A popular Afghan saying: “The Coalition of the Willing is winning hearts and minds one dead body at a time.”

John W. Warnock is author of Creating a Failed State: The U.S., Canada and Afghanistan, to be published by Fernwood Books in May 2008.
   

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