MARJAH, Afghanistan | Elders in a former Taliban stronghold berated and challenged Afghanistan’s president Sunday, delivering a litany of complaints about government corruption and NATO’s military operations on the Afghan leader’s first visit to Marjah.
President Hamid Karzai said that’s exactly what he had come to hear.
“Today, I’m here to listen to you and hear your problems,” Mr. Karzai told about 300 men who sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor of a mosque in central Marjah.
Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops seized the city of 80,000 people from the Taliban this month in a three-week offensive seen as a major test of a new strategy to win over Afghans by routing insurgents from population centers, setting up an effective civilian government and rushing in aid.
On Sunday, many of the assembled elders said they wanted to side with the government, but that their experience so far made them skeptical.
They complained — sometimes shouting — about corruption among former Afghan government officials. They lamented how schools in Marjah were turned into military posts by international forces. They said shops were looted during the offensive, and claimed that innocent civilians were detained by international forces.
“Over the past seven years, we have suffered problems imposed by authorities,” said Abdullah, who only gave one name. Then, “in the past 20 days since the international forces have come here, people have been killed and wounded, our market has been destroyed, and houses destroyed.”
The government’s task is to convince residents of the city in southern Helmand province that the civilian government can provide them with a better life than the Taliban. The Marjah push — the largest offensive since the 2001 ouster of the extremist group — was the first since President Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to try to reverse the Taliban’s momentum.
Mr. Karzai and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal flew into Marjah aboard U.S. military helicopters, landing in a field near the town’s main market. Gen. McChrystal joined Mr. Karzai on the floor of the mosque, but did not speak during the nearly two-hour meeting.
In a message to the Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said insurgents fired mortars into Marjah’s main intersection, but reporters traveling with Mr. Karzai and Gen. McChrystal did not witness any attack.
Three NATO service members were killed in attacks Sunday — one in the south and two in the east, the military alliance said in a statement. None was related to the Marjah offensive, in which 15 international forces have died.
At least 35 civilians have been killed in the operation, according to the Afghan human rights commission. Spokesman Nader Nadery said insurgent bombs killed more than 10 people, while NATO rocket fire killed at least 14.
The president, who has been dubbed “the mayor of Kabul” by critics who claim his authority doesn’t extend beyond the capital, said the central government intends to be more responsive to the people’s needs.
“Are you against me or with me?” Mr. Karzai asked the elders. “Are you going to support me?”
The men all raised their hands and shouted: “We are with you. We support you.”
While Mr. Karzai visited the south, armed clashes continued for a second day between the Taliban and another Islamist group in Baghlan province in northeastern Afghanistan. At least 50 militants and an unknown number of civilians died in the battles between Taliban and the Hezb-e-Islami militia, loyal to regional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, provincial Gov. Mohammad Akbar Barakzai said.
Officials said the militants apparently were fighting over control of several villages where the government has almost no presence. Provincial police Chief Kabir Andarabi said more than 100 Hezb-e-Islami fighters, under pressure from the combat, pledged Sunday to join the government forces.
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