A counterinsurgency catch and release program

Independent:

The men looked frightened. Taken in handcuffs after US Marines found caches of Kalashnikovs, bomb-making material and opium during searches of their homes in a major offensive against the Taliban, their future looked bleak. But just 48 hours later the prisoners were brought back to their village and freed into the care of local elders.

The extraordinary scene was one of the first examples of the new US policy of "reconciling" the Taliban being implemented. It is modelled on how Sunni nationalist groups in Iraq (the so-called "Sunni Awakening") were persuaded or induced to turn their backs on al-Qa'ida, an initiative now seen as a major turning-point in that war.

The Afghan prisoners were returned to the village of Changowlak at the end of last week as the first American military mission was launched after Barack Obama's announcement of 30,000 US troop reinforcements.

The objective of Operation Khareh Cobra (Cobra's Rage in Pashtu) was to recapture Naw Zad, which had been in insurgent hands for two years. Under the doctrine of the Afghan "surge", the use of overwhelming military force to secure territory is followed as soon as practicable by interaction with the local population and attempts to persuade militants to lay down their arms. But the speed with which the men were freed came as a surprise, not least to the detainees. They were driven from their holding pens at the American base, Camp Cafaretto, to a hastily convened shura (village or tribal meeting of elders), unaware of the coming gesture of goodwill.

Squatting in a dusty field, the prisoners were called out one by one to face the gathering of about 50 men and a collection of young children. One of the first to step forwards was Izatullah Ali, a burly 38-year-old farmer, whose walled compound had yielded weapons and stacks of poppies. He heard Captain Andrew Terrell, of 3d/4th Marines say, through an interpreter : "We found mortar rounds at this man's house which are very dangerous weapons. We also found drugs, which are bad things. But we are told he is a good man and a hard worker so we are going to give him back to his father who is going to make sure that he is not going to do it again."

Izatullah's handcuffs were ceremonially removed and, then grinning, he joined his brothers squatting on the ground. His father, a stooped figure with white flowing beard, laboriously put his signature to a form accepting responsibility for his son's conduct. There was a ripple of applause from the crowd but also muttered oaths from some men from the Afghan security forces who clearly sceptical that they were seeing an insurgent reformed.

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I suspect that more than the Afghan security forces are skeptical of this catch and release program. For it to be effective, there must be consequences for a second offense. This certainly puts a strange end on Operation Cobra's Anger.

Turning these guys over to the elders puts some pressure on the perceiv3ed leadership, but whether the leaders will resist the Taliban is speculation at this point.