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Since launching the attack on the Taliban in Marja, Helmand Province on the 13th of February, this operation has caused 1,000 families to flee from their homes. Ironically, Moshtarak, which means “together” in Dari is signified in the name of this operation.
The US, the UK and Afghanistan have sent in 15,000 troops into Afghanistan in the largest allied offensive effort since Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.
Operation Moshtarak definitely has its merits. Marja has been controlled by Taliban militants for years and is laden with serious drug trafficking activities. The main idea of Operation Moshtarak is to seize Marja from the Taliban and go on to nurse the wounds and fill the cracks of a city that has been war torn for over 30 years.
Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of Western forces in Afghanistan claims a “government in a box, ready to roll in” after the success of this operation. The plan is to bring in government administrators and policemen to build, repair and maintain the stability of the city. According to James Cowan, the commander of British forces in Helmand, this operation marks “the beginning of the end of the (Taliban) insurgency” as this operation will serve as a prototype for future war efforts against the Taliban.
Skepticism arises right about here. The operation itself seems to be progressing fairly well, and according to Aljazeera, Afghan officials said, “almost total control of the area has been wrested from the Taliban”, so there is little doubt that Marja will soon be free of the Taliban. The real question is, “What happens after this?”
Will there be lasting, sustained support from foreign forces in Marja? If so, for how long? And when the day comes when the US and the UK military forces pull out from the country, will the city and its people be ready for liberation? There is a real possibility that once the troops leave Marja, the situation there will descend to its former infamous glory.
By this reasoning, Operation Moshtarak deserves its critics as well. The cost and effect this operation is having and will continue to have on the people of Marja is severe.
Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who was arrested and detained by the Taliban in 2001, received a consistent message during her visits to Afghanistan given by the locals to “get NATO troops out of our country”. According to Ridley, Malalai Joya, Afghanistan’s youngest woman MP described her people as being “trapped between two enemies”, with the Taliban on one side and America and NATO on the other.
In situations like these, there will probably never be a “right” choice. Hopefully, the people who had to make a choice nonetheless- NATO, government officials – would have made their choices with careful deliberation, and based on the welfare of the people whose lives will be affected by them.
All we as spectators can do is hope, and give that hope a voice, so that maybe it’ll be heard.
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