Lock 'em up, then let 'em go - US forces try new strategy

The men looked frightened. Taken in handcuffs after United States Marines found caches of Kalashnikovs, bomb-making material and opium during searches of their homes in a major offensive against the Taleban, their future looked bleak.

But just 48 hours later the prisoners were brought back to their village and freed into the care of local elders.

The extraordinary scene was one of the first examples of the new US policy of "reconciling" the Taleban being implemented.

It is modelled on how Sunni nationalist groups in Iraq (the so-called "Sunni Awakening") were persuaded or induced to turn their backs on al Qaeda, an initiative now seen as a major turning-point in that war.

The Afghan prisoners were returned to the village of Changowlak at the end of last week as the first US military mission was launched after US President Barack Obama's announcement of 30,000 US troop reinforcements.

The objective of Operation Khareh Cobra (Cobra's Rage in Pashtu) was to recapture Naw Zad, which had been in insurgent hands for two years.

Under the doctrine of the Afghan "surge", the use of overwhelming military force to secure territory is followed by interaction with the locals and attempts to persuade militants to lay down their arms.

But the speed with which the men were freed came as a surprise, not least to the detainees.

They were driven from Camp Cafaretto to a hastily convened shura (village or tribal meeting of elders), unaware of the coming gesture of goodwill.

Squatting in a dusty field, the prisoners were called out one by one to face the gathering of about 50 men and a collection of young children.

One of the first to step forwards was Izatullah Ali, a burly 38-year-old farmer, whose walled compound had yielded weapons and stacks of poppies.

He heard Captain Andrew Terrell say through an interpreter: "We found mortar rounds at this man's house which are very dangerous weapons. We also found drugs, which are bad things. But we are told he is a good man and a hard worker so we are going to give him back to his father who is going to make sure that he is not going to do it again."

Izatullah's handcuffs were removed and, then grinning, he joined his brothers squatting on the ground.

His father, a stooped figure with white flowing beard, laboriously put his signature to a form accepting responsibility for his son's conduct.

There was a ripple of applause from the crowd but also muttered oaths from some men from the Afghan security forces who were sceptical that they were seeing an insurgent reformed.

The reconciliation process to bring over Taleban fighters is a key component of the plan by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.

A British commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb, is in charge of overseeing implementation of the strategy.

Seen by senior US military figures as one of those who was instrumental in winning over Sunni militants in Iraq, the general has said that many in the enemy ranks in Afghanistan have "done nothing wrong".

The US Marines in the operation were in any case prepared to see whether the experiment of freeing low-level Taleban fighters would work. One officer said lessons had been learned from mistakes.

"There is no point in having an unnecessary build-up of detainees; no one wants an Abu Ghraib situation on their hands," he added, referring to the notorious US-run prison in Iraq.

The policy of depending on elders to ensure security has proved contentious. British forces withdrew from the town of Musa Qala after such a guarantee from community leaders.

The place became, instead, a Taleban base from which raids were mounted across Helmand and had to be reoccupied.

The massive influx of US Marines in Helmand - 11,000 strong with 9000 more to follow - aims to ensure Nato presence remains in areas taken from the Taleban. The Americans say they are not about to leave Naw Zad.

- INDEPENDENT