An Afghani girls looks on as U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Michael Horne checks a local man during a patrol in Sistani, Helmand Province, on Thursday.
Al-Qaeda does not provide many fighters to the insurgency in Afghanistan, but it has provided financing and direction to insurgent leaders, said Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who recently returned to the USA after commanding forces in southwest Afghanistan.Mills commanded coalition forces in Helmand province, a former Taliban stronghold and once a major poppy-growing region. The sale of drugs has helped finance the insurgency, the Pentagon has said.
The intelligence taken from bin Laden's compound will help coalition forces target financiers and others who help support insurgents in Afghanistan, Mills said.
"I think it will identify people who are providing material support to the insurgency in Afghanistan," Mills said. "I think it will provide targets to be worked."
U.S. commandos raiding bin Laden's compound seized a trove of intelligence, including five computers and 100 remote electronic storage devices, such as thumb drives. The devices are being investigated for clues to al-Qaeda networks and leaders.
"If I were Mullah (Mohammed) Omar, I would certainly be worried," Mills said in reference to the reclusive Taliban leader. "That has to have a psychological impact on the leadership of the insurgency in Afghanistan."
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden before it was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion after the 9/11 attacks. Even before the death of bin Laden at the hands of U.S. commandos, insurgent morale was eroding because of coalition battlefield successes, according to a Pentagon report released last month.
The report said there are signs of increasing friction between militants in Afghanistan and their leaders living over the border in Pakistan, where they are not sharing the same hardships.
The report pointed out that progress in building effective government and economic development is not keeping pace with security progress.
Despite the success in protecting villages and decimating insurgent leaders, military commanders expect the Taliban to attempt to counterattack as a new fighting season begins. Most militants suspend fighting during the winter, when heavy snows make movement difficult, and re-emerge in the spring. "The enemy has to counterattack," Mills said. "I'm not sure he can give up Helmand province because it's important to him."
Mills said insurgents will emerge to find dramatically different conditions in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban has lost control of key towns and villages and local security forces are more capable, he said. "What he's going to come to is a very different battlefield," Mills said.
Some members of Congress have said the death of bin Laden could lead to increased public pressure to reduce the number of U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan or shift to a more limited mission aimed mainly at targeting top leaders. Supporters of President Obama's plan for the war say a precipitous withdrawal could jeopardize hard-fought gains.
"Nobody wants them (U.S. troops) to leave and come home more than I do, but I don't want them to go back," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., according to the Associated Press. He said Obama should stick with the current plan.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., acknowledged the likelihood that bin Laden's death would increase public pressure to bow out, the AP reported. "Some people will ask why we don't pack up and leave Afghanistan," Kerry said. "We can't do that."
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