Taliban overrun town as peace deal fails

· Locals flee after militants disarm new police force
· Offensive happens two days before Nato handover

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Saturday February 3, 2007
The Guardian

British strategy in Afghanistan suffered a blow when the Taliban overran a town in northern Helmand where a controversial peace deal had been signed.

Hundreds of insurgents stormed into Musa Qala on Thursday night, disarming the local police, burning government buildings and threatening elders, officials and residents said.

The Taliban offensive appeared to catch troops off guard just two days before Britain hands control of Nato forces in Afghanistan to an American, General Dan McNeill. "The Taliban entered the town last night. The current situation is unclear," said Mark Laity, a Nato spokesman in Kabul.

British commanders always insisted that the Musa Qala deal, which was brokered between the provincial governor and local elders last September, was risky. After a summer of fighting that claimed several British fatalities, British forces and the Taliban agreed to withdraw from the town centre. In return, elders said they would guarantee security through a locally recruited tribal police force.

War-weary residents welcomed the deal. So did British commanders keen to find an honourable way to withdraw troops from isolated outposts. Some analysts said that if the deal succeeded, it could offer a template for a negotiated end to the insurgency across the embattled south.

But US generals and some western diplomats vehemently opposed the Musa Qala pact, painting it as a sop to a resurgent Taliban. The agreement also split the Taliban leadership, according to Afghan officials in the south and Taliban sympathisers in Pakistan. Yesterday it became clear which faction won the argument.

Between 200 and 300 militants entered the town on Thursday night, one resident said. The Helmand governor, Asadullah Wafa, said the fighters disarmed the new auxiliary police force - who were recently given American-funded weapons - and had partly destroyed a compound housing government officials. Town residents fled, fearing reprisals by Nato warplanes.

"People have closed down their shops this morning and those living near the area have moved out of fear," said Mr Wafa. There were conflicting reports that the elders who signed the September peace deal had been taken hostage.

The British mission said it did not have full information. "The UK taskforce has received reports of a limited number of Taliban operating in Musa Qala district," said a statement issued at headquarters in Laskhar Gah. "We are still gathering information on the situation."

A Nato airstrike near Musa Qala last week may have precipitated the Taliban offensive. A British military spokesman in Helmand would not comment on whether British troops will redeploy to Musa Qala. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that any decision would be made in conjunction with the Afghan government.