Earn our trust or go, Afghan villagers tell Marines

By Peter Graff

SORKHDOZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The mullah's message was blunt. We don't trust you and if you don't earn our trust, our first meeting will be our last.

With that, he stood abruptly and walked out of his first "shura," or council meeting, with U.S. Marines.

U.S. forces who have moved deep into formerly Taliban-controlled territory in southern Afghanistan this week say they are here to stay and will not leave until they have improved the lives of ordinary people.

But locals -- used to seeing NATO troops come through to fight but fail to follow through on promises of development -- may not be won over easily.

This week, the Marines, sent by President Barack Obama, launched operation Strike of the Sword, one of the biggest operations by ground forces in Afghanistan since Soviet forces withdrew in 1989.

Their goal has been to seize quickly the lower Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold and the world's biggest opium producing region, where fighters resisted advances by an overstretched British-led NATO force for years.

In the village of Sorkhdoz, Foxtrot Company of the 2nd battalion, 8th Marines held their first shura with local elders on Sunday, three days after arriving on assault helicopters.

No one invited them into their home. Instead, they met on the street, in the shade of the outside wall of a mud-brick compound.

The company commander, Captain Junwei Sun, promised his troops were not just passing through.

"This is a beautiful village. It's very peaceful. And we need to work to keep it that way," Sun said.

"I know there's Taliban. They come through the village and intimidate you and intimidate your children. That's why I want you to know, we are going to stay here."

PRAYER BEADS AND DEMANDS

The elders listened, clicking their prayer beads. Then Mullah Zainuddin, the village's religious leader, listed their demands.

They want the provincial authorities to allocate more water for their irrigation system. They want a health clinic, and they want a school. Produce these things or leave us alone, he said.

"I do not trust you. There have been international forces that have come through the village and promised schools, promised clinics. When you are already (delivering) that, then I will trust you," he said.