Posted on 03/09/2006 2:54:03 PM PST by EBH
NANGALAM, Afghanistan — Nearly two dozen former insurgents recently came down from throughout the surrounding mountains of this war-torn region of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan to lay down their arms and reconcile with the democratically elected Afghan government.
The fighters were a mixture of the Anti-Coalition Militia and included former Taliban with probable ties to al Qaeda, noted 1st Lt. James Campbell, Camp Blessing officer-incharge, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
“This deal was brokered by Mohammed Rhakman, a district chief for Kunar Province, and was done in conjunction with the support of tribal elders and a joint Marine Corps, U.S. Army and ANP (Afghan National Police) effort,” said Campbell, a native of Newburgh, Ind. “This is the first time a meeting of this caliber has occurred in Kunar Province — with actual fighters coming down and saying, ‘We’ve had enough.’ This wasn’t a surrender per se. It was a reconciliation.”
The meeting was held at an ANP outpost in the small village of Nangalam, near the coalition forces’ forward operating base at Camp Blessing.
“In and of itself, two dozen ACM fighters coming down from the mountains and reconciling may not seem like a big deal,” said Army Capt. Michael Breen, platoon leader for 1st Platoon, Delta Battery, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment out of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. “In this area of the country, however, that has such a long track record — a tradition really — of opposing coalition forces and outsiders, I think it is a very significant event. I haven’t seen anything even close to this happening before, and I hope in a few years, history will look back on this event as the beginning of the end of hostilities in this region.”
...this event illustrated the importance of the coalition policy of forming relationships...
(Excerpt) Read more at mcbh.usmc.mil ...
Slowly but surely
Awesome.
Give each of them a shower, clean clothes, coat, water, bag of rice, clean rifle and 160 rounds. Then tell tell to go back into the mountains.
There is no way to win this war but to convince a generation of young people the choice to murder Christian or Jewish Americans or our allies is road to absolute oblivion.
“War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say give them all they want.”
William T. Sherman General, Unites States Army
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