SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
KLMNO
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The World A17
U.S.-led troops make a push into rural Kandahar
Worry persists whether effort to expel Taliban can bring stability
BY KARIN BRULLIARD AND GREG JAFFE
kandahar, afghanistan — U.S. and Afghan troops flowed into rural areaswest of this city in the past week in a new push that NATO commanders said would clear out Taliban fighters and al- lowAfghan security forces to take control of the spaces left behind. Themajor thrust into the farm-
SAURABH DAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS Poll workers count votes using portable rechargeable lights after the Afghan parliamentary elections in Kabul. Afghan vote marked by ‘irregularities’ Afghanistan war deaths
Total number of U.S. military deaths since 2001 and names of the U.S. troops killed recently in the Afghanistan war, as announced by the Pentagon:
1,268 Fatalities
In hostile actions:
970
In non- hostile actions:
298
Tallies may be incomplete because of lags in reporting.
l Lance Cpl. Cody S. Childers, 19, of Chesapeake, Va.; 2nd Battalion, 6thMarine Regiment, 2ndMarine Division, 2ndMarine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Killed Aug. 20 in Helmand province.
l Pfc. Alexis V. Maldonado, 20, of Wichita Falls, Tex.; 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Hood, Tex. Died Aug. 21 at Kandahar Airfield of wounds suffered in Kandahar province.
l Lance Cpl. Nathaniel J.A. Schultz, 19, of Safety Harbor, Fla.; 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Killed Aug. 21 in Helmand province.
l Sgt. Jason D. Calo, 23, of Lexington, Ky.; 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Killed Aug. 22 in Helmand province.
l Spec. Pedro A.Millet Meletiche, 20, of Elizabeth,N.J.; 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th InfantryDivision, based at Fort Carson, Colo. Killed Aug. 22 in Kandahar province.
l Lance Cpl. Robert J. Newton, 21, of Creve Couer, Ill.; 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Killed Aug. 23 in Helmand province.
l Sgt. Ronald A. Rodriguez, 26, of Falls Church; 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Killed Aug. 23 in Helmand province.
l Staff Sgt. Vinson B. Adkinson III, 26, of Harper, Kan.
l Sgt. Raymond C. Alcaraz, 20, of Redlands, Calif.
l Pfc. Matthew E. George, 22, of Grantsboro, N.C.
l Pfc. James A. Page, 23, of Titusville, Fla. The four soldiers were assigned to 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Bamberg, Germany. They were killed Aug. 31 in Logar province.
All troopswere killed in action in Afghanistan unless otherwise indicated. Total fatalities include two civilian employees of theDefense Department. They also include servicemembers killed in other locations involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba;Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Pakistan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; Uzbekistan; and Yemen.
A full list of casualties is available online
at6washingtonpost.com/nation
SOURCE: Defense Department’s
www.defenselink.mil/news
THE WASHINGTON POST afghanistan from A1
said. More than 3.6 million people
cast ballots to elect 249members of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, according to the Independent ElectionCommission.That repre- sented 27 percent of the country’s estimated 13.5 million registered voters, though officials said about 700 of the 5,355 polling centers that opened Saturday had yet to report their tallies. In the presidential election last
year, more than 5.5 million votes were cast, albeit in a contest char- acterizedbywidespreadreportsof fraud. Saturday’s elections were viewedasamajor testof theability ofAfghanandinternational forces to prevent violence and fraud and restore the public’s faith in the democratic process. Asked why turnoutmight have
declined this year, Afghan De- fense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardaksuggestedthat “onepossi- bilityis that thepropagandaof the enemy affected the psyche of the people.” The election commission took
precautions: It closed 461 polling centers Saturday in addition to the 1,019 that were shut in recent weeks because of security con- cerns. Atmany locations, election officials and campaign workers outnumbered voters. But those who ventured out appeared un- bowed by Taliban threats. “I wasn’t afraid. It’s my own
country, so why should I be afraid?” saidRezaKhan,27,acook who voted at Kabul’s Naderia High School. He cited unemploy- ment as a top issue and said he was voting “for the betterment and rebuilding ofmy country.” The mood of Afghans might
also have been dampened by re- cent reports of corruptioninPres- identHamid Karzai’s administra- tion and the near-collapse of Ka- bul Bank, the country’s largest private financialhouse,whichhas ties toKarzai. Even with the low turnout, it
could be weeks before the results are ratified.More than 2,500 can- didatesarevyingfor seats.Prelim- inary tallies are due early next month, butWestern officials cau- tioned that ballot boxes from re- mote polling sites in dangerous districts could be tampered with before arriving inKabul, the capi- tal.That could generate bitter dis- putes among rival candidates and their supporters. Allegationsof improprietyhave
surfaced, including reports that many voters had washed off the supposedly indelible ink from their fingertips to vote repeatedly and that thousands of falsified voter registration cards had been used. Afghan security officials ac-
knowledged that they confiscated 4,187 fake voter cards Saturday and 22,000 in the days before the election.They said60peoplewere arrested in possession of the cards. But election commission chief
Fazel Ahmad Manawi disputed the reports that voters had been able to quickly remove the ink from their fingers. An aide to Manawi said the ink, bought from a company in Denmark, was test- ed repeatedly before the elec- tions. The commission sent inves- tigators to several provinces Sat- urday but no evidence of such tacticswas found, the aide said. An unprecedented force of
400,000 police officers and sol- diers, suppliedbyboththeAfghan government and NATO coalition, was involved in the security prep-
U.S.Marines escort a girl wounded by shrapnel and her father to a medevac helicopter Saturday inMarja, Afghanistan.
arations. Guards set up extra checkpoints, and voters were frisked at polling stations. Still, insurgent groups carried
outattacks in17of thecountry’s34 provinces, Afghan security offi- cials said. Of those, insurgents mounted 63 attacks using heavy guns, launchedmore thanadozen rockets and set off 33 improvised explosive devices, according to the InteriorMinistry. One suicide bombing was reported. The at- tacks killed three police officers, in addition to the 11 civilians, and wounded 45 civilians and 13 offi- cers, theministry reported. In 2009, 479 violent attacks
killed 31 civilians, 18 Afghan po- lice and eight Afghan soldiers, according to aU.N. report. In the southeastern province of
Kandahar, one of the country’s mostdangerousareas,Gov.Torya- liWesa was on his way to inspect three polling centers in the Dand district when his convoy struck a roadsidebombhiddeningarbage, spokesman Zalmay Ayoubi said. No one was injured, and the gov- ernorproceededto the centers,he added. “When the explosion hap-
pened, black smokewas in the air. Wewere not able to see anything,” Ayoubi said. He said security forces also discovered about 10 explosivedeviceshiddenthrough- out the province and detonated them through controlled explo- sions. In Sarobi, a small village along the winding, mountainous road
that connects Kabul and Jalala- bad, voters arrived in packed cars and vans covered with campaign posters. The district’s incumbent lawmaker, Mohamed Sangin Tawalkzai, said insurgent threats did not appear to be keeping con- stituents fromvoting. “The people of Afghanistan
know how to show bravery,” he said, speaking at his sparse cam- paign headquarters. Many Afghans said they were
voting to improve a parliament that has been a weak counterbal- ance toKarzai.Althoughthe legis- lature has blocked Karzai’s cabi- net selections andchallengedhim on the budget, it has done little to stemreports of corruptionwithin the administration. “I decided to vote for a new
candidate,” said Satururahman, 40,who goes by one name. “What did the old parliament do? Noth- ing. I’mgoing to look at the ballot, find a newname and vote for that person.” Lal Zada, 45, voted for the first
time in his life in the Besoud district of Jalalabad,where voters lined up to cast ballots despite six rocketattacksacross theprovince. “These rockets are an everyday
thing for us,” he said.
nakamurad@washpost.com londonoe@washpost.com
Nakamura reported fromKabul. Londono reported fromJalalabad. Special correspondentsMasood Azraq and JavedHamdard contributed to this report.
ingdistrictsofZhari andPanjwayi represented an escalation in the military’s slow-moving operation to secure the surrounding prov- ince,Kandahar, and other parts of theAfghansouth. TopU.S. officers inAfghanistan
expressed confidence in the po- tential of the Kandahar offensive and the gains already made. But even asmore soldiers head to the front lines, worry persists inside the White House and the Penta- gon about whether the effort to expel theTalibanwillbeenoughto bring stability to a nation where poor governance and rampant corruptionareseenas theprimary drivers of chaos. Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates has said in recent days that the current approach is paying dividends. Thecompetingassessmentsare
likely to play into a White House review in December of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. Officials intheWhiteHouse andthePenta- gon said it is unlikely the review will lead to major shifts in the approach, which is seen as pro- gressing as expected. But in a sign of the concern,
seniorWhite House officials have begun asking formore data about thewar. “There has been a real sense in
the lastmonth thatU.S. policy has been somewhat dysfunctional,” said a senior defense official who spokeontheconditionofanonym- ity. “Thereisalivelydebateamong the military guys about whether we are moving in the right direc- tion.” In an interview, the top U.S.
military official in southern Af- ghanistansaidtheoperation,with about 20,000 coalition forces now in place, has boosted security in Kandaharcityandgovernment in- fluence in some areas outside it. TheKandahar effort has unfolded gradually, after a rapid offensive into neighboring Helmand prov- ince that military officials have saidwasnotwell thought out. “We are going to continuewhat
we’ve beendoing,whathas beena very deliberate application of the principles” of counterinsurgency strategy, said Brig. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, the deputy coali- tion commander in southern Af- ghanistan. “We have started changing thatmap.” A“security ring” of checkpoints
and walls around Kandahar has led to increased commerce and movement, he said, and the con- tinuing arrival
ofU.S.military po- lice is helping build the capability of Afghan police. In the Argand- hab Valley, a key entry point into Kandahar city, summer clearing operations and an increase in se- curity forces helped Afghan offi- cials take control of about 85 per-
centof theterritory,upfromabout 50percent,Hodges said. But it is unclear whether mili-
tary achievements in the south and elsewhere are being outpaced by the gains of the Taliban,whose leader recently declared that his movement was winning. The number of assassinations in the city of Kandahar rose in August, Hodges said, although he could not cite a figure. Insurgents have begun to spread throughout northern areas where their pres- encewaspreviouslymarginal.Na- tionwide, militant attacks have doubledsince last summer. The military push into the
Zhari and Panjwayi districts comes after the arrival of several thousand U.S. and Afghan troops in an area where there was previ- ously one U.S. battalion. Military officials say the battle for the greenbelt, mostly south of High- way 1, is likely to be the most vicious intheprovince. Taliban leader Mohammad
Omar founded his insurgency in Zhari in 1994, and a terrain of grape fields and streambeds has sinceprovidedlushcoverforfight- ers,whosedominationhas left the Afghan government in control of about 10percent of thedistrict. Previous NATO efforts to cap-
ture the district have failed, but military officials say they now have the manpower to hold it. Special operations forces are cap- turing Taliban leaders, British en- gineers aredestroyinghomemade bombs, and troops are setting up checkpoints along the highway and other routes into the city, Hodges said. The idea is to detain as many insurgents as possible, not chase themout,he said. Taliban fighters are countering
those moves with bunkers and additional bombs,he said. “Either they’re all just going to
drop their AK’s andmelt away, or they’re going to fight. And we an- ticipatethat they’regoingtofight,” Hodges said. By December’s review, Hodges
said he expects to be able to show evidence of larger and more skilled Afghan forces, a doubling of electricity in Kandahar city, moreAfghansingovernment jobs, and fewer illegal tolls and bombs onHighway 1.He expectsmore of the same by July, when President Obama has said hewants to begin drawingdowntroops. Gen.DavidH.Petraeus, the top
U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has made it clear that he wants troops to have more time, and somemilitary officers in Afghani- stanspeak as thoughtheydo, too. “When they are confidentwe’re
staying, then they’ll help,”Hodges said of theAfghans. “But if they’re not sure, thentheywill sit ontheir hands.” While the United States may
have a clear plan to drive the Tali- ban from strongholds around Kandahar, thereis littleconsensus on howto reformthe Afghan gov- ernment, some officials said. “An Afghanistan free of all cor-
ruption is not likely,” said a senior military official in Washington. “So thequestioniswhat canwedo immediately andhowdowe do it? What peoplewant is for basic sys- tems to function. They want speedy and predictable judicial decisions to settle disputes and want to know their land is not going to be takenfromthem.”
brulliardk@washpost.com jaffeg@washpost.com
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