Nearly 400 elders, farmers and tradesmen attended the open-air meeting called by their tribal leaders. In the distance, artillery boomed and Hellfire missiles exploded as the Marine-led assault on Marja entered its first full day.
For the U.S., the meeting was part of a strategy to move quickly from the fighting to the establishment of at least the beginnings of a government that answers to President Hamid Karzai, not the Taliban.
Marine Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson has ordered each of his commanders to hold a public meeting as soon as possible to explain the mission and ask the residents of Marja and surrounding communities what they want from a government. Saturday morning's meeting, attended by Marine Lt. Col. Matt Baker, commander of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, was the first.
When Baker's convoy was delayed by the discovery of a roadside bomb in its path, the audience members, sitting cross-legged on rugs outside an abandoned school, waited patiently for an hour. When he arrived, they stood and applauded, cheered on by Helmand provincial government leaders who have long seen Marja as a threat.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-meeting14-2010feb14,0,3089484.storyCertainly a better approach than had been tried before.