Battle for town is a small step on the path to victory in Afghanistan

Few offensives have been as well advertised as the battle for Marjah, which US forces have heralded for weeks as the biggest operation of the eight-year war.
Military strategists were puzzled that the enemy was being given so much detail. But the battle launched yesterday is as much for headlines as for territory. What Marjah is really about is turning around the perception that were losing, said an adviser to General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Taking the dusty town of Marjah was never going to be hard. Coalition forces have consistently defeated the Taliban in set-piece battles and this is the biggest display of force since the 2001 invasion.
Most fighters are thought to have melted away, leaving a few diehards and a lot of improvised explosive devices. Some reports were of as few as 50 Taliban in Marjah. Even if there were the 400 or so claimed by US officers, they did not amount to much resistance against 15,000 US marines, British forces and Afghan troops.
Nothing in the past eight years of combat supports the notion that the Taliban are suicidal fools, said John McCreary, a former intelligence analyst for the US joint chiefs of staff.
Many in the US intelligence community believe Marjah is about convincing Afghans that the Taliban are not invincible and impressing people back home who are sceptical of what their troops are achieving. Its an attempt to retake the information war, said one officer.
This is all a war of perceptions, said McChrystal earlier this month. This is not a physical war in terms of how many people you kill ... This is all in the minds of the participants.
The assault follows a series of briefings by McChrystal that Nato forces are turning the tide against the Taliban despite little evidence of this. The briefings have provoked concern in Whitehall. One senior official warned Gordon Brown not to be taken in as there could be bloody months ahead.
By talking up the importance of Marjah, the US commander hopes to announce a decisive victory, achieved with a display of firepower capable of convincing Taliban foot soldiers to switch sides. He also wants to use it as a showcase for a shift in focus from killing Taliban to protecting civilians and improving governance.
The real test of Marjah is what subsequently happens to the town and its 75,000-strong population. Under the counterinsurgency strategy of shape, clear, hold and build, the first two stages have always been fairly straightforward. But as British forces have found in Helmand, the real problem comes with holding. As soon as the foreign forces withdraw, the Afghan forces run away or do deals with the Taliban.
In this instance British officials say they have been training special police. An Afghan governor has been imported from Germany and US and British advisers are standing by. Weve got a government in a box, ready to roll in, said McChrystal. As for building, the United States has millions to transform Marjah, which has no paved roads and few schools or clinics.
While Marjah will see a victory, the Taliban may well have shifted elsewhere. Nato officers say they have sealed off escape routes. But the Taliban have never taken coalition forces head-on in Helmand, preferring to stick to guerrilla tactics. (The Sunday Times)