A US Marine and a Taliban commander have recently met again since the end of the Afghan war in August, recalling their experience of the 20 year war between the NATO forces and the Taliban.
Former Marine Thomas Gibbons-Neff recounts how he met the then Taliban fighter Mullah Abdul Rahim Gulab in battle in which both sides suffered casualties.
The US coalition and Afghan troops clashed with the Taliban in the Marjah district of the Helmand province during mid-February, 2010, writes Gibbons-Neff in an article for the New York Times. The district was at the time an important Taliban stronghold which the US and Afghan forces had been sent to seize.
The former marine writes that the Taliban had been emerging as a potent military force during 2010 and threatened nearly the whole country. He adds that the US military had launched an operation to seize the district as part of a larger counterinsurgency plan, which ultimately failed.
Gibbons-Neff says the US troops, more than 250 in number, had landed in the district a few hours before sunrise and were planning their move. Gulab, alongside his Taliban fighters arrived shortly after the morning prayer and the two sides fought tooth and nail resulting in significant casualties, he adds.
The former marine writes that Gulab joined the Taliban in the year 2005, a year before he listed in the Marines, after losing two brothers in the war. Gulab recounts his experiences through the article saying he wanted to join the fighters against the foreign invaders ever since he was a little boy. He adds that the Taliban had developed a tactic to exploit the US rules of engagement that prevented foreign troops from killing unarmed Taliban fighters.
Gulab adds that the Taliban fighters would throw their weapons in ditches and come out of cover unarmed. The fighters would then wait for the local children and villagers whom they used to collect their weapons and keep them, until they returned.
The former marine says that Mullah Abdul Rahim Gulab is currently a high-ranking commander with the Taliban. He recounts that what were once battle fields are now replaced by paved roads and cotton fields. Where once gunfire rang out, now only the sound of a tractor running a field and chattering can be heard, concludes Gibbons-Neff.
The original article appeared here
Comments are closed.