Afghan flag flies over Marjah

CAMP GERONIMO, Afghanistan – The Afghan government laid symbolic claim to the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday with a flag-raising ceremony and the formal installation of a new civilian administration.

Both Afghan and Western military officials, though, said the campaign to secure the southern Afghanistan town would go on for weeks longer.

As the flag-raising was taking place, scattered clashes between U.S. Marines and insurgents continued, and coalition forces continued the painstaking work of finding and destroying the huge numbers of buried bombs planted by insurgents.

U.S. Marines, British and Afghan troops launched their assault on the town Feb. 13. With 15,000 troops taking part in combat and support operations spread over a wide area, it has been the largest single Western offensive since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban.

At Thursday’s ceremony, hundreds of local residents looked on as their red and green national flag was raised. The town’s new civilian leader, Haji Zahir, promised to begin restoring basic government services – something Marjah has lacked for at least two years.

Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the U.S. Marines’ commander, attended the ceremony but did not speak. Western military officials said that was a deliberate gesture, meant to emphasize that the massive military offensive was meant to pave the way for Afghans to govern themselves.

Thirteen Western service members, including at least eight U.S. Marines, have been killed so far in the Marjah campaign, along with three Afghan soldiers.

Gen. Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, told a Kabul news conference that 35 civilians had been killed – a higher number than previously provided – but did not provide a breakdown of how many deaths were attributed to Western forces and how many to insurgents.