Kandahar, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters smashed government buildings, frightened away villagers and declared a new round of hostilities with foreign troops yesterday as the only peace deal in southern Afghanistan cumbled.

 

In a district touted by some military officials and Afghan leaders as a model for pacifying the volatile region, insurgents on tractors hauled down walls in a cluster of buildings that housed the police headquarters and district administration of Musa Qala, where a fragile agreement with the Taliban had endured for three months.

 

“Now the Taliban control Musa Qala, and the people are afraid,” said Rahmatullah, one of several local residents who described the scene by telephone. “All the shops are empty, the houses are empty.”

 

British troops agreed to leave the Helmand province district in October, on condition the Taliban withdraw and allow tribal elders to rule. Residents say the insurgents never left, however, and the elders’ authority seemed shaky in recent weeks.

 

U.S. military officers, among others, had criticized the Musa Qala deal as a capitulation.

 

Little more than a week ago, British Brigadier Jerry Thomas described the deal as a key element of the British strategy to separate the radical Taliban from their moderate supporters. “From my perspective, the agreement is on track,” he told reporters in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

 

Last night, however, the British Ministry of Defence issued a statement acknowledging the failure. “The breakdown in that agreement is a matter of regret, especially for the local people who have made clear that they want peace in their area,” the statement said.

 

“Even from the beginning I said this is not going to work,” said Helmand governor Asadullah Wafa, who was appointed in December.

 

Explosions and gunfire were also heard last night in the neighbouring districts of Sangin and Maywand, but it was unclear whether the fighting was related.

 

A Taliban commander reached by mobile phone in Helmand said the decision to break the peace deal was made by Mullah Dadullah, a top Taliban leader.

 

“This order came from Dadullah, to remove the elders and start fighting again,” the commander said.

 

The insurgent also blamed the breakdown of the deal on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s bombing of a mosque in Musa Qala district on Jan. 25. Western military statements have said that a U.S. B1-B Lancer dropped a precision-guided bomb on a “known insurgent command post” near Musa Qala on that date, but NATO said the target was outside the zone of the peace deal.

 

In nearby Kandahar, provincial councillor Haji Mohammed Qassam said that elders from Musa Qala had recently visited the city to complain that neither side seemed interested in keeping the peace.

 

“The Taliban were all over Musa Qala, and the elders were here complaining,” Mr. Qassam said. “NATO also was trying to end this deal.

 

“There was a bombing, and that ended it.”

 

The British military gave tribal elders a cache of weapons — reportedly, 200 Kalashnikov rifles — before they withdrew from Musa Qala last year. The Taliban claim to have seized those arms during their raid without any resistance from the elders. No fighting was heard by witnesses in the village.

 

“They took everything from the elders,” a local doctor said. “They said, ‘We had an agreement but they bombed us anyway. The agreement is finished.’ “

 

The Taliban gave the elders time to leave the district centre and then smashed it overnight, witnesses say. The insurgents say they detained the elders and later released them, but other witnesses said the elders simply went home.

 

Mr. Wafa confirmed the destruction of the building but asserted that the tribal elders had regained control of the village. However, witnesses said Taliban armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades could be seen parading through the streets all day. A Taliban commander said his fighters are digging trenches around the village, preparing for a NATO assault.

 

In fact, NATO officials have been talking in recent days about possible operations against entrenched Taliban positions in places such as Helmand, as a way of taking the initiative from opponents who have been threatening a spring offensive.

 

The end of the Musa Qala deal strikes an ominous note, even though it appears to have been bloodless. After months of cold, rainy weather, spring temperatures and sunshine are returning to southern Afghanistan. Muddy fields and snowy mountain passes make winter a difficult season for the insurgents, and the onset of spring has historically brought more fighting.

 

“All the families are running from this area because they think the bombing will start,” Rahmatullah said.

 

 

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