Troops fear IED blasts while riding in Humvees

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By Richard Tomkins

BAGHRABAD, Afghanistan

It's unlikely there will be a monument for Abdullah Khan and others like him when the war in Afghanistan finally ends, but there should be. Mr. Khan is one of the country's unsung heroes, an ordinary man who stepped from the sidelines in this counterinsurgency struggle to openly and actively support his community and government in defiance of the extremist Taliban. That cost him his life.

"You've always got the intimidation campaign which they [the Taliban] use quite extensively," said a U.S. Marine officer who requested anonymity. "Dragging someone out in the village and beating them in front of their family is very effective, and so are kidnappings and murders."

Mr. Khan was a farmer in the Nawa District of southern Helmand Province, a hotbed for Taliban gunmen until U.S. Marines in late summer pushed most of the insurgents into the neighboring district of Marjah.

Government aid is now about to begin filtering into impoverished villages, and Mr. Khan was part of that process. Although he was only in his 30s, he was so respected in the area that the district governor appointed him a community counselor. With elders, he helped identify and prioritize Baghrabad's governance, social and economic needs, informed people of government policies and how they would affect them, and acted as an ombudsman. He also gave information on suspicious activities to the authorities.

"I'm afraid," he said the first and only time this reporter met him. "Please help me. I think the Taliban are going to kill me and my family tonight."

Mr. Khan told a Marine sergeant who was leaving Baghrabad at the end of an evening patrol that he had been receiving death threats - spoken directly to him by strangers or shouted out to him - every time he visited a bazaar about two miles away.

"Today men from Marjah called out, 'Why are you in the shura [council], why are you a CC [community counselor]?' " he said. " 'We are going to kill you.' Later I saw a man from nearby who I think is a Taliban spy watching my house."

Mr. Khan asked the Marines for a gun, but they weren't allowed to provide one. They offered the safety of their outpost nearby for his entire family. He declined. But he also made a promise: If he survived the night, he'd leave a marker the Marines would recognize outside the house of the suspected Taliban spy so he could be arrested. He also promised more information on suspected Taliban in the area.

Two days later, two suspected Taliban operatives were in custody and Afghan authorities, after reviewing evidence compiled, deemed them guilty of security offences. Five other Taliban-connected men detained in the next two days were similarly judged guilty after tips from Mr. Khan and other area villagers.