L. A. Now
A top general at Camp Pendleton who is departing to become the top Marine in Afghanistan said this week he expects more violence by Taliban fighters in Helmand province.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said the Taliban is desperate to regain momentum after being driven from its Helmand province stronghold in Marja a month ago by a Marine-led assault.
"I think the Taliban commander is back on his heels,'' Mills said. "He's losing Helmand province".
Unwilling to fight the Marines head-on, the Taliban will increasingly resort to suicide bombings and roadside bombs, even if the victims are Afghan civilians, Mills said.
"He's resorting to tactics of terrorism and intimidation," Mills said. "...An IED (improvised explosive device) doesn't differentiate between killing Marines and killing children on their way to school".
On Wednesday, 13 Afghans were killed and four dozen more, including children, were injured by a bomber who pedaled up on a bicycle during a wheat seed distribution in the Najr-e-Sarraj district of Helmand.
The U.S. is sponsoring the program to encourage Helmand farmers to stop growing the opium poppy crop that is turned into heroin and provides massive profits for the Taliban insurgency.
Under a surge authorized by President Obama, the Marines are nearly doubling their strength in Helmand province, long considered one of the strongholds of the Taliban.
Mills, who will succeed Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, will have 19,000 Marines under his command, including about 7,000 from Camp Pendleton. Marines will continue to confront armed Taliban fighters, and search for weapons' caches and bomb-making facilities.
Among the Marines' other missions are training the Afghan security forces. Mills said that after-action reports from the fight in Marja indicate that while some Afghan units performed well, others need substantially more training.
"The raw material is there," he said. "These guys like to fight -- they come from a warrior culture".
Mills will also inherit the task of training an Afghan police force for the province. Corruption and incompetence have long plagued the police, alienating the Afghan public. Along with U.S.-based contractors hired to train the force, Marines will continue to mentor the fledgling officers, Mills said.
"We have some work cut out for us -- to stand up a competent, honest police force," he said.
Some Marines who fought in Marja complained that the rules of engagement meant to avoid civilian casualties were too restrictive, especially when Taliban fighters were surrounding themselves with civilians. Mills said he sees no reason to change the rules, even in cases where they provide an advantage to the enemy.
"He's uncivilized," Mills said of Taliban fighters. "But you don't sink to his level".
Mills, who is currently commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, is set to be in Afghanistan for 12 months. Like other Marines who served in Iraq, he takes lessons learned from Anbar province, where the Marine mission was similar to that in Afghanistan: Earn the support of local civilians, develop local security forces.
"We learned that you can only take the locals so far, and that finally they have to stand up on their own two feet," he said.
-- Tony Perry at Camp Pendleton
Photo: Maj. Gen. Richard Mills visits Marine paratroopers at Camp Pendleton on March 29, 2010. Mills deploys this week to take over as the top Marine in Afghanistan. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
