U.S. forces pin hopes on new Afghan civil police

[unhappycamper]

U.S. forces pin hopes on new Afghan civil police
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
Stars and Stripes online edition, Sunday, March 28, 2010

MARJAH, Afghanistan — Maj. Mubarak Shah strode confidently into the U.S. Marine combat center with important intelligence: Three Taliban fighters were preparing to attack a nearby checkpoint.

The tall, lanky Afghan police commander, part of Afghanistan's new elite police force, pointed out the Taliban ambush spot on a wall-sized satellite map at Combat Outpost Turbett as his men and a team of Marines prepared for a fight.

When the Afghan police officers suited up and led the way through the busy Marjah market, however, they immediately threw the patrol a confusing curve.

"We're heading in the opposite direction of what Maj. Mubarak pointed out on the map," said Tim Coderre, a veteran sheriff's deputy from Wilmington, N.C., and former Army sniper who's working as a law enforcement adviser with the Marines.

Shah had identified the wrong spot on the map, and his officers now were leading the team to the right place. However, the suspected Taliban fighters had quietly disappeared back into the surrounding fields long before the quick response team arrived to check out the report.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68978



unhappycamper comment: And the rest of us pin our hopes that the House will get their heads out of their collective asses and stop throwing money at these occupations.