The men of Tarok Kalache were enraged by their homes' destruction. "These dudes were extremely angry," Captain Patrick McGuigan, a subordinate of Flynn, later told Stars and Stripes. "The elder (of Tarok Kalacheh) wouldn't even talk to me for three weeks, he was that [angry]." Some compared the U.S. force to the Soviet occupiers. But leveling the village was just the beginning.

In order to prepare the area for this summer--when the Taliban are widely expected to stage a counter-assault--Flynn, understandably eager to help the Afghans protect themselves, sidestepped the Afghan Ministry of Interior's vetting guidelines and built his own local security force. But arming and empowering whatever young men asked for a free assault rifle, and saving the training and vetting for later, has had some unfortunate side effects. According to a follow-up dispatch from Broadwell, U.S. trainers have struggled to stop these Afghan "police" from beating suspected "bad guys" in the street.

During his campaign to clear the Arghandab district, of which Tarok Kalache is a part, Flynn enlisted the nearby Afghan Border Police, the only Afghan force then in the area. After all, one of the objectives in the war is to build up, train, and hand over responsibility to Afghan troops. But the ABP, which is meant to patrol the national borders, doesn't have jurisdiction in Arghandab. That may be in part because it is run by a rather notorious figure known as Colonel Raziq, a local warlord popular with U.S. forces for his reputation for getting things done. The Associated Press recently reported that Canadian troops in the area are wary of Raziq's tactics, warning that he is a "butcher" who executes suspects and is beyond U.S. or Afghan control. The A.P. describes Raziq as leading a "shadowy proxy war within the war." This warlord might bring more government troops to Arghandab, but it also forces locals to choose between him or the Taliban. Few Afghans love the Taliban, but if Raziq abuses his newfound power, it will do little to promote sympathy for the U.S.-led force that put him there.

Perhaps most troubling was Flynn's decision to hand the power of land title to the District Sub-Governor. This man now has the power to assign property values, set boundaries, and enforce ownership, all in an area where there previously was none. Land reform can be a good thing, especially in a country like Afghanistan where land disputes can produce appalling violence. But in the midst of a massive campaign to "clear" an area of Taliban insurgents, the process will likely go with little or no U.S. monitoring. If this Sub-Governor is miraculously one of the few local Afghan politicians who is not corrupt, he now has so much power, and so many incentives to abuse it, that corruption seems guaranteed. Flynn's reconstruction funds and land redistribution effort are clearly well-intentioned, but, unfortunately, only the Sub-Governor and those who can afford to bribe him will likely benefit. Rather than help the poor and erode corruption as intended, this plan could do the opposite.