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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 27, 2008) - The 2nd Battalion, 7th
Marines are disrupting the Taliban's freedom of movement in
Afghanistan's Helmand and Farah provinces, the battalion's
commander said today.
"We expected that we were going to experience a lot of friction
by the enemy," Marine Corps Lt. Col. Richard D. Hall told online
journalists and bloggers in a teleconference, noting that until the
1st Marine Division unit arrived, Taliban operatives and other
militants could operate as they pleased.
"We're disrupting that, and they don't like it," Hall said, "so
they've been trying to come after us because of that."
He praised his Marines' fighting spirit, calling them "some of
the very best of America."
"Their heart is absolutely unbelievable," Hall said. "When I
have gone to the hospital to visit some of the wounded with the
intent of cheering them up, bolstering their confidence, the exact
opposite occurred. Their spirit was so great that I had shivers
going through me after talking to these men. Their primary concern
was ... 'How are the guys doing, ... and when can I get back?'"
Hall acknowledged that local police hadn't been effective, but
said the focused district development training program under way in
Afghanistan will turn that around.
"What we're currently experiencing right now is a lot of change,
and it's a good change," he said. "In a lot of the 2/7's districts,
we have some positive things going on where previously they had
relatively well-trained police -- but not mentored and certainly
under the influence of corruption -- now about to be replaced with
trained and respectable police."
Focused district development is an Afghan Interior Ministry
initiative designed to improve policing in the country, district by
district. It was developed by Combined Security Transition Command
Afghanistan officials to address issues of inadequate training,
poor equipment and corruption, which made it difficult for the
police to provide public safety and internal security.
"We have a couple of districts that are going through the
transfusion of previously untrained police, sending them to a six-
or eight-week training package and then reinserting them back into
their district as trained and mentored police," Hall said. "We have
several of our districts that are well under way. We have almost
300 police that are currently undergoing training right now, and we
have another district that's about to receive its first group of
trained police back into the district and to swap out with the
placeholders there."
Highly trained Afghan national civil order police work in the
districts while the local police are trained at regional centers.
When the local police return, mentoling teams help them apply their
training.
The increase in violence in their area is tied primarily to the
Marines' operations, Hall said, explaining that that the Taliban
aren't so much increasing their level of activity as much as the
Marines are interdicting and disrupting their operation.
"Whether they're been trained and mentored for some time or
they've just recently returned to their district, we are showing
[the Afghan police] that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with
them," Hall said. "That has given them a lot of confidence."
He added that the Taliban are ostracizing themselves in the
villages where 2/7 operates.
"[They] are separating themselves from the people, because they
are indiscriminately killing innocents," he said. "And they've
shown that multiple times, with their suicide bombing right in the
midst of the civilian population at a tremendous toll to civilians,
not just our Marines."
The 2/7 has lost 10 men since assuming its current mission. Hall
noted that one of those 10 was his interpreter, whom he considered
one of his men.
"Although they're Afghans, they're still my people, so I feel
the same about them since we work side by side and we are here for
them," he said.
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