Taliban loyalties hinder Afghan effort

MEYDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan, July 8 (UPI) -- U.S. troops are met with various degrees of suspicion as they try to win over the Afghan population as part of the latest counterinsurgency doctrine.

U.S. military strategists are drawing on lessons learned from the conflict in Iraq to win over the "hearts and minds" of Afghans as part of a counterinsurgency doctrine that places soldiers among the native population.

Soldiers deployed in Wardak province report resistance from village elders on the local Shura councils and are often met with requests to leave, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the latest push into Afghanistan a "necessary" part of the strategy, hoping for quick improvements in the security situation.

But that push, according to military and political leaders alike, is expected to coincide with an increase in violent attacks. In Wardak, the Monitor notes, the number of insurgent attacks has spiked some 300 percent compared with 2008.

Meanwhile, American forces are pushing into areas sympathetic to the Taliban, where the lack of central government has created a climate in which the Taliban have established their own de facto government, enacting taxes and enforcing their own version of the law.

Though strategists expect a tough fight ahead as the surge gains momentum, analysts note that the pro-Taliban sentiment may not be a systemic issue in Afghanistan as U.S.-led forces slowly hand authority back over to Afghan officials.