InfoAnda - US offensive reflects uneasy run-up to Afghan vote

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: US offensive reflects uneasy run-up to Afghan vote AFP - Sunday, July 19 HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFP) - - A month before polls in Afghanistan, campaigning has been scarce in the southern Helmand river valley where US Marines are fighting insurgents for control of the key region. ADVERTISEMENT Landmines have closed main roads while frightened villagers have abandoned their homes despite a major US military offensive designed to ensure safe conditions for presidential and provincial council elections on August 20. The vote comes after the hardline Taliban movement -- driven from power by the US-led invasion eight years ago -- has re-emerged since as a potent insurgency force that increasingly threatens security. Multi-national efforts to foster stability have struggled to make progress, with the top US military commander Admiral Michael Mullen admitting last week that security had deteriorated progressively over the last three years. In southern Helmand province, where most of the opium that funds the insurgency is grown, villagers told AFP that they broadly supported the foreign troops' attempts to defeat the Taliban. "The Taliban just walk into our homes and demand food and money," said one village elder speaking through an interpreter employed by the US military. "They close schools and we can't disobey them as they will torture and kill us. We support what the US troops are doing but they point their guns at our children, who cannot go outside to play." The man said he wanted to vote in the elections but that registration cards had not arrived at his mud-walled village in the Garmsir district of Helmand. He spoke during a week in which a Marines' unit was hit by a series of deadly IED (improvised explosive devices) planted on the dirt road immediately outside the village. "They are not local people," he said of those behind the bombings, without giving further details. All residents living close to where the US Marines stopped for the night fled their houses, fearful that the troops' presence would attract violence -- rather than provide security. The battle for control of Helmand is in contrast to the widespread optimism about Afghanistan's future in the years after the fall of the Taliban. In 2005 George W. Bush, the then US president, described democracy in Afghanistan as "flourishing" and expressed hope that it and Iraq would show the way ahead for what he called the "greater Middle East" -- including Iran. Barack Obama, his successor, has carved out a more specific US mission in Afghanistan that focuses on bringing stability to prevent the country from becoming a haven for terror groups such as Al-Qaeda that threaten the West. When the latest US operation against the Taliban swung into action in Helmand on July 2, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said it would "set conditions for the elections in the river valley." "The aim is to improve things to a level where (voter) registration can take place," he told AFP, though he warned that gaining people's trust and finally transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces would take time. Western troops are expected to keep a low profile on polling day itself, leaving visible security in the hands of the Afghan police and army personnel who are being trained up to take over in the long term. The 4,000 Marines air-lifted into Taliban-held areas of south Helmand have met only sporadic resistance and have often received a positive response from local leaders who wish to see the extremists driven out, the military says. However the difficulties faced by the NATO-led coalition were emphasised by the experiences of the US Marine convoy with which AFP travelled in the province last week. Its attempt to clear a 30-kilometre (19-mile) route of IEDs ended in failure with the convoy returning to base after seven days of repeatedly being hit by IED blasts, including one which killed two Marines. The Taliban threatened to target elections in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005, though violence was relatively limited during the polls. They have so far avoided making direct threats against next month's elections. Hamid Karzai, the current Afghan president, is seen as the favourite to win having secured strong political alliances despite complaints about the slow pace of development and allegations of corruption within his administration. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Asia Pacific Jakarta bombings loom over Asian security meetingAFP - Sunday, July 19 China says police killed 12 people in Urumqi riotAP - Sunday, July 19 NZ quits search for 18 missing from Kiribati ferryAP - Sunday, July 19 Australian soldier killed in Afghan blastAP - Sunday, July 19 British students in Chinese swine flu quarantineAFP - Sunday, July 19 Enlarge Photo US offensive reflects uneasy run-up to Afghan vote Most Popular – Asia Pacific Viewed World's oldest man, British WWI veteran dies at 113 Talking toy 'translates' dog barks Miniskirts, cleavage upset male SKoreans: survey Citi posts $4.3 bln profit on one-time gain Coroners seek records from Jackson skin doctor View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. 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