For decades, it was among Helmand province’s largest and most prosperous cities — thanks at least part to the profitable opium poppy crop grown by local farmers, many of whom are share-croppers.

Dozens of shops, numerous schools, government offices and mud-built homes for 25,000-plus residents were arrayed in a crowded pattern that resembled the Western idea of a city. One bakery alone produced 1,200 loaves of stone-baked bread daily; the school had 2,500 students.

But residents of Now Zad fled four years ago amid fighting between the Taliban and the U.S.-led coalition. Only howling dogs remained.

The Taliban, seizing the city as a buffer against the U.S. and other forces, swooped in and planted hundreds of roadside bombs to block their enemy from using the streets of Now Zad to mount an advance or to set up more than a tiny outpost.

In mid-2009, 200 Marines assaulted the Taliban both in Now Zad and an encampment north of the city, but the result was a stalemate. Then, in December, the Marines launched a new assault, this time with 1,000 troops and several 70-ton Assault Breacher Vehicles to clear a path through the buried bombs.

After several days of fighting, the Taliban dispersed. The Marines and Afghan army soldiers and police moved cautiously into Now Zad.

Now there is a campaign to lure the residents back with promises of security, health care and schools. A few thousand have returned as Marines and Afghan forces posted 24-hour guards in a city where nearly all the structures show the ravages of bitter war and harsh winter weather.

"There is no place like Now Zad,” said Michael Ronning, a U.S. foreign service officer and Agency for International Development official, noting that the city’s history makes it unique among the communities where the U.S. is attempting to convince the population to turn on the Taliban.

The threat of roadside bombs remains high despite the efforts of Afghan contractors, paid by the United States, to find and dig up the explosives. Large areas remain off-limits, red-tagged as too dangerous while the slow work of de-mining continues, giving the city the look of a ghost town.

Eleven members of a family were killed Sept. 28 just a few blocks from their home. On the same day, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J. Shapiro was visiting U.S. troops in Now Zad.

Despite some setbacks, U.S. officials present Now Zad as a story of how a more-aggressive use of military power, backed by a well-organized reconstruction effort, can wrest control of former Taliban strongholds. More VIP visits are expected.

Although Now Zad is nothing like it was pre-2006, there are encouraging signs, including a willingness of early returnees to defy the Taliban, officials said.

A health clinic has opened, with a midwife. A school, for both boys and girls, is open. Some shops in the main bazaar are selling goods again.

The Taliban are no longer inside the city limits, but they can strike at the surrounding roads. Marines based in Twentynine Palms, Calif., provide security inside the city and constantly patrol in the surrounding foothills.

And five Marines from Camp Pendleton, assigned as part of a "female engagement team,” are hoping to arrange classes and outreach for women. But first they need to convince the women’s husbands of their good intentions. "The men are curious, at least they haven’t said no,” Cpl. Christina Arana said.

In many Helmand province communities, the thought of having boys and girls in the same school is unthinkable because it might draw an attack by the Taliban. In Nawa, for example, there are 11 public schools, but none enroll girls. In Now Zad, girls and boys are kept in separate classrooms, but the school is open to both.

"I’m not sure what victory looks like, but I think it looks like this,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson as he looked at a classroom where giggling girls read from spelling books provided by UNICEF.