The Telegraph reports:
Complete success is being claimed for the largest Afghan-led operation yet against the Taliban.
Afghan
army forces and police have now purged the Nad Ali district of Helmand
of 400 Taliban fighters, following a series of chaotic battles. . . .
The operation, which began last week during the
Persian new year celebrations of Nawruz, involved 400 Afghan security
personnel, the biggest Afghan-led sweep yet in the Nato offensive in
Helmand.
Crucially, it was also backed by local militias, whose commanders had sworn to remove the Taliban from their land.
The
success means that much needed-reconstruction projects, postponed for
months due to the Taliban presence, can now begin as planned.
This follows a good old-fashioned pulpit-thumpination by Karzai:
Afghan president Hamed Karzai gave a blistering tongue-lashing to the
residents of Helmand on 29 March, accusing them of perpetuating the
violence and insurgency in their province.
"I am not blaming Pakistan and other countries - I blame you, the local
people," he thundered, addressing approximately 2,000 hand-picked
representatives in the central mosque of the provincial capital Lashkar
Gah.
"You are making problems. You do not want security in your province."
No reports on whether the stern talk resulted in more cooperation, but more cooperation has apparently been forthcoming. Ht Major John