Marines Securing Now Zad

Fox News:

U.S. Marines are moving quickly to secure this newly liberated Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province from expected extremist reprisal operations that will target the local population as well as U.S. and Afghan forces.

At least three platoon-sized outposts have been built from scratch in less than two weeks in outlying areas to block likely Taliban infiltration routes from nearby mountains. U.S. troops are staging daily patrols into Now Zad District villages to give the people an increased sense of security and gain their cooperation in identifying Taliban in hiding.

Marine officers say more are to come. As in Nawa District to the south and elsewhere in the country, U.S. forces have found daily interaction with the local populace leads to more personal relationships, which lead to actionable intelligence on Taliban activities and infiltrators.

In the town of Now Zad itself, made a muddy ghost town by the Taliban since 2006, displaced former residents are being given paying jobs to help clean away debris so people can return to their homes from nearby villages and rebuild the province's second-largest town.

Some of those men may have at one point joined been Taliban for economic reasons rather than ideological ones, but the Marines believe that the flowering rebuilding efforts will keep them out of the clutches of insurgents.

"If a man has work during the day that puts food on the table, he's unlikely to go out into a wadi (ravine) late at night to go plant an IED for the Taliban for money," said Capt. Jason Brezler, a team leader with the 4th Civil Affairs Group, which has started rebuilding here.

Explosive ordnance disposal teams, meanwhile, comb roads for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) while other units from Forward Operating Base Now Zad — operations central for efforts here — visit close-in villages.

There is also talk of unarmed neighborhood-watch groups for Now Zad in the future.

"We have to stay ahead of them (the Taliban)," said Lt. Col. Martin Wetterauer, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. "We are not going to give back any dirt we've taken ... there is more heavy lifting to do in the 'hold' phase of this operation and we're going to do it.

"There are Marines now in places they've never been seen or expected."

Now Zad, in the northwestern Helmand, was the Taliban's major supply hub and command-and-control center for the province's northern and central river valleys, according to Marines.

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There have been no recent attacks against U.S. forces in Now Zad town, but villagers report the appearance of "night letters" — printed Taliban warnings that people should not cooperate with the Americans.

"The more this place improves the madder they (the Taliban) are going to get," said 1st Lt. John Pickup, of Lima Company. "They've lost face with the people. I wouldn't be surprised if some bodies (of cooperative villagers) started turning up soon."

That is possible, but the Taliban does not want to mix it up with the Marines. With the outpost and the patrols it will be difficult for the Taliban to approach the village with out being challenged.