US Troops Launch Charm Offensive in Mazar

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

AP via Times of India - Dec 25, 2001

US Troops Launch Charm Offensive in Mazar

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Dec 24 (AP)--The US army soldiers stopped their van
suddenly in the middle of a busy intersection, beckoned to the
officer directing traffic from atop a concrete podium and handed him
a new silver whistle.

The officer, who had been using a black-and-white striped club to
keep traffic flowing, smiled at the soldiers, jammed the gift into
his mouth and whistled them along.

Mission accomplished for a small team of soldiers waging a sort of
charm offensive to win hearts and minds in the northern Afghan city
of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The soldiers have been handing out notebooks at schools, visiting
refugee camps and playing with children in the streets, helping where
they can with limited resources.

When they noticed the traffic officers did not have whistles, they
went out and bought some.

The US soldiers in town - the army has declined to reveal how many -
are already popular for helping throw out the Taliban, who allegedly
massacred thousands of residents when they seized control of
Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.

Children cheer the troops. Men line up to shake their hands. One
Special Forces soldier impressed a crowd when he joined in the
traditional game of buzkushi, jostling on horseback with other riders
trying to grab a decapitated goat.

As he spoke, some US soldiers were checking to make sure a Red Cross
food distribution was going smoothly. Others were teaching kids new
handshakes.

"We're not here to occupy. We're here to help. And especially the
kids.  We don't want them afraid of us, and they're not," Herb said.
 
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