Military Review English Edition January-February 2014 | Page 29

BEATING THE TALIBAN

Overview of the District
The district of Shahid-e-Hasas is located along
the Helmand River in northwestern Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan. It has approximately
20,000 to 25,000 residents. The district is divided
by two large rivers that flow northeast to southwest
and meet in the center as they flow south together,
dividing it into three large sections. These areas
are very mountainous as the whole region is on
the edge of the Hindu Kush range, and the people
there eke out a subsistence living where their farms
hug the banks of the rivers. Unlike other districts
of Uruzgan Province, it is the only one that is
predominantly Ghilzai in tribal orientation, with
its Noorzai subtribe the strongest in the area. The
provincial government has historically neglected
the district, which is dominated by the Durrani
tribal confederation and its Populzai sub-tribe. The
district has traditionally been politically and economically isolated, due to a lack of both tribal connections in the provincial capital and bridges and
passable roads. While local farmers benefit from
access to water from the rivers, their main source
of revenue is poppy production, which is the central
ingredient of heroin. Shahid-e-Hasas borders the
predominantly Pashtun province of Helmand to its
west and the predominantly Hazaran province of
Dai Kundi to its north, and it is the forward edge
of Uruzgan in the area. Because of its isolation,
rugged terrain, tribal orientation, and lack of sufficient coalition and Afghan troops in the district
and the surrounding provinces, Shahid-e-Hasas
had long been considered a Taliban safe haven
since the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. forces
in 2001. However, this began to change in 2010 as
U.S. strategy shifted in the area and a determined
effort was made to reclaim the district from Taliban
forces. In many respects, the success of this strategy
suggests that a light, lean, and long-term presence
of U.S. forces in partnership with local villages may
provide a viable and fiscally sustainable approach
to establishing security in Afghanistan.

Shahid-e-Hasas: 2005-2006
U.S. military forces did