Monday, Jul. 20, 2009

Afghanistan: Where heat is the worst enemy

Taliban no match for Marines, say guardsmen who served in war zone

About 4,000 Marines who are trying to drive the Taliban out of southern Afghanistan face a long, hot summer, say two members of a South Carolina National Guard unit that spent a year in the area tangling with insurgent forces.

At the same time, the soldiers said they are not surprised the Marines’ Task Force Leatherneck has not met much resistance from the Taliban since beginning the operation just before the July 4th weekend.

“The Taliban knew the reputation of the Marines, and the size of the force they were bringing. They’re not stupid,” said Lt. Col. Bill Connor of Orangeburg, who served with the Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team during its yearlong tour in Afghanistan in 2007-08.

The Taliban prefer to attack “soft” targets — police officers and civilians — instead of well-armed military forces, said Capt. Dylan Goff, who mentored Afghan police units in southern Helmand province, where the Marine offensive is under way.

“We spent half the year looking for a fight,” said Goff of Columbia. “As a general rule, they don’t like to fight Americans.”

Both men returned home in May 2008. In civilian life, they work as attorneys in Columbia.

Connor — who wrote a book, “Articles from War,” about his experiences — is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Goff is a member of state Rep. James Smith’s law firm. Smith, a Democrat, also deployed with the 218th, advising police in Zabul province.

Both Connor, who headed the Afghan police training mission in Helmand, and Goff helped the Marines’ 2nd Expeditionary Brigade, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., prepare for the mission.

Goff put together an intelligence brief about the southern part of Helmand, and Connor said he briefed the brigade’s commander, Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, a 1979 graduate of The Citadel.

While much of the information they passed on was classified, Connor said he told Nicholson it was important to show the Taliban the Marines meant business.

“They need to come in initially and decisively win,” Connor said of the Marines. “Once that’s done, then they can focus more on the humanitarian mission.”

Helmand is a key battleground in the march to defeat insurgent forces.

The province borders Pakistan and is the longtime home of the Taliban, who once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network. Planning for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was done in Afghanistan.

The Taliban were ousted from power after the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, but they have refused to budge from the southern third of the country.

The Taliban remain entrenched in Helmand, which produces more than half of the opium produced in Afghanistan. The drug trade pays Taliban fighters and suicide bombers, commanders say.

Covering about 23,000 square miles, Helmand is Afghanistan’s largest province, about the size of West Virginia. The province is mostly desert. In the summer, the temperature routinely tops 120 degrees.

Both S.C. soldiers say it is important for the Marines and U.S. forces to stick it out.

Connor said he was impressed with the Afghans’ friendliness toward U.S. troops and their willingness to support the efforts of U.S. and NATO forces.

“The people in Helmand really want to be on the winning side,” Connor said.

Goff noted Afghan leaders risk their lives by cooperating with U.S. forces. If U.S. forces pull out, the leaders are likely to be murdered by the Taliban.

“If we pull out, we’ll be signing their death warrants,” Goff said.

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503

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