Afghan Taliban Cede Ground in the South, but Fears Linger

By CARLOTTA GALL
NYT

MARJA, Afghanistan — The poppy harvest is over and the fighting season has arrived in southern Afghanistan — except this year the Taliban have not returned in their usual numbers to intensify the war, Afghans across the region say.

They credit the thousands of additional American troops and Afghan forces deployed to insurgency-ridden districts who have cleared out most of the Taliban and are keeping them at bay.

The change is palpable. In Marja, the district in Helmand Province where American Marines began the offensive 15 months ago, government officials can now drive freely. Last year, they could arrive only by helicopter, such was the threat of roadside bombs and ambushes.

In neighboring Kandahar Province, the heartland of the insurgency, Taliban commanders who have ventured back for the new fighting season were detained or chased out of the area within hours of arriving from Pakistan, villagers and officials say.

(More here.)