Taliban taking charge

By JEAN MACKENZIE
INSTITUTE FOR WAR & amp; PEACE REPORTING
HELMAND, Afghanistan -- While President Bush was calling for additional forces to beat back an expected spring offensive in Afghanistan, the Taliban were showing signs that they're not waiting for the winter snows to melt and are already on the march.
Earlier this month, Taliban forces captured the police chief of Washir district and 30 of his officers while they were on patrol, according to a high-ranking district official who asked that his name be withheld for security concerns.
After capturing the chief and his forces, "they went to the district center, where they took control, disarming the rest of the police," this official said.
A Taliban spokesman in Washir, speaking by satellite phone, confirmed the seizure, but added that Taliban presence in Washir was nothing new.
"We have had control over Washir for some two months now," said the spokesman, who refused to allow his name to be used.
Poppy growers
Washir is a sparsely populated district in Helmand's northwest corner. Bordering the provinces of Nimroz and Farah, it is home mainly to poppy growers and cattle farmers.
The loss of Washir follows closely on the collapse of Musa Qala, a district slightly to the south.
On Feb. 1, the Taliban raised their banner over the Musa Qala district center, putting an end to what had been a tenuous and controversial ceasefire brokered by village elders between the Taliban and NATO forces.
Neither Afghan government nor NATO officials would comment on the open display of strength by Taliban forces in the region. Indeed, government forces pleaded ignorance about the situation in the area.
Over the past several months, the battle for Afghanistan's troubled southern region has moved to Helmand, a province noted mainly for its thriving narcotics industry. Helmand grows approximately 42 percent of the country's opium poppy, and supplies almost 90 percent of the world's heroin.
Frequent attacks
The Taliban have been highly visible in the area of late, and have mounted frequent attacks against NATO troops who took over from the U.S.-led coalition forces last summer.
The provincial capital of Lashkar Gah is in danger of being overwhelmed by the flood of refugees from the areas controlled by the Taliban. About 1,000 families have come down from Musa Qala, according to provincial officials, joining an additional 3,000 families already displaced by the fighting.
Jean Mackenzie is the country coordinator for The Institute for War & amp; Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.