Taliban hold town hall meetings in Marjah

NY Times:

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Though Marja has an occupation force numbering more than one coalition soldier or police officer for every eight residents, Taliban agitators have been able to wage an underground campaign of subversion, which residents say has intensified in the past two weeks.

The new governor of Marja, Haji Abdul Zahir, said the militants were now holding meetings in randomly selected homes roughly every other night, gathering residents together and demanding that they turn over the names of anyone cooperating with the authorities.

Mr. Zahir said the Taliban also regularly issued “night letters,” posted at mosques or on utility poles, warning against such collaboration, and often intimidated residents into providing them with shelter and food, even in densely populated neighborhoods of the city, which has a population of 80,000.

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It sounds to me like the Afghan troops and police in the city are not doing their job. They need to have check points that would stop the movement of the Taliban. They should also check houses where any gathering is taking place If they were on the streets patrolling it would be hard for this to happen. How hard is it to post a check point where the night letters are being posted?

The Marines may have to do some remedial counterinsurgency training with these guys. If the problem persist then a curfew will do the job.