It’s a 30-hour trek from Lejeune to Afghanistan

[thedrifter]

Taliban resisting southern Afghan operation: US Marines

1 hour ago

KABUL (AFP) — US Marines have faced "continuous resistance" from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to clear out a key militant stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the force said Wednesday.

US Marines and British troops under NATO command launched the operation late April in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre.

"We're seeing a continuous resistance," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's second-in-command in Afghanistan.

"They are consistently engaging us," he said, but added that "the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them."

Hayes refused to comment on militant casualties from the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures, adding Garmser was a "planning, staging and logistic hub" for the rebels.

But he did not dismiss a statement Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al-Qaeda-linked "foreign fighters," had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.

Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.

"We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that," he said.

Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.

Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north.

There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help NATO forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.

A separate US-led coalition including special forces has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.

The Taliban were removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion launched when the extremist regime did not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies following the 9/11 attacks.

The operation forced Taliban and Al-Qaeda across the border into Pakistan, where Afghan and US officials claim they have safe havens from which they can plot their bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines stay in Afghan town after Taliban influx

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 14, 12:19 PM ET

U.S. Marines who once planned to be in this southern Afghan town for just a few days are extending their mission by several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.

The change in plans shows that despite a record number of international troops in the country, forces are still spread thin and U.S. commanders must make tough choices about where to deploy them.

Manpower problems are acute in Helmand, the largest and probably the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, where the U.S. 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived late last month to open a route to move troops to its southern reaches near the border with Pakistan.

Britain has about 7,500 soldiers in the province, but does not have enough troops to move south of Garmser, a district still largely held by the Taliban and bursting with opium poppy fields.

The 2,400-strong Marine unit met stiff resistance as they moved in. Between 100 and 400 Taliban fighters moved into the Garmser area as the poppy harvest got under way, apparently to defend their interests in the lucrative drug trade.

Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. said the Marines would be in Garmser for several more weeks. It means the Marines might not take part in an operation that was planned in another southern province this month.

"The number of fighters that stood and fought is kind of surprising to me, but obviously they're fighting for something," Clinton said, alluding to poppies. "They're flowing in, guys are going south and picking up arms. We have an opportunity to really clear them out, cripple them, so I think we're exploiting the success we're finding."

Helmand is the hub of opium production in Afghanistan, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the global supply of this raw material of heroin. The Taliban are believed to derive tens of millions of dollars from the trade.

Still, the Marines have been careful not to alienate residents by destroying the poppy fields that poor farmers rely on for income. Commanders say their goal is to rid the region of Taliban fighters so the Afghan government can move in and tackle the drug problem.

The prospects of that happening appear remote. Although thousands of acres of poppy fields are eradicated annually in Afghanistan, it is only a small fraction of the total area sown. Year after year, production has soared and security has deteriorated.

In recognition of the growing threat posed by Taliban militants, there are now almost 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. has 33,000, the most since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 ousted the Taliban for giving haven to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

U.S. forces have mostly operated in the east of the country, rather than the south, where NATO has struggled to find nations willing to fight the increasingly bloody insurgency.

U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said he needs three more brigades — two for combat and one to train Afghan soldiers, roughly 7,500 to 10,000 additional soldiers.

When the Marines eventually leave Garmser, any gains the 24th has made could be quickly erased unless other forces from NATO or the Afghan government move in.

"We can't be a permanent 24/7 presence. We don't have enough men to stay here," said Staff Sgt. Darrell Penyak, 29, of Grove City, Ohio. "We would need the ANA (Afghan army) to move in, and right now the way we're fighting, there's no way the ANA can come in. They couldn't handle it."

Afghanistan's army and police forces are steadily growing, but are still not big — or skilled — enough to protect much of the country. Spokesmen for both forces said they were not aware of plans to send forces to Garmser.

Col. Nick Borton, commander of British forces in the southern part of Helmand, recently visited U.S. positions in Garmser, where he told the Americans he'd be happy if they stayed on.

"If they're here for only a short time, we can't build very much off that," he said. "Their presence for a few days doesn't really help us."

A representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. government aid arm, told Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson that "people lose faith if you pull out."

The next day, at a meeting of Marines and Afghan elders, the bearded, turban-wearing men told Marine Capt. Charles O'Neill that the two sides could "join together" to fight the Taliban. "When you protect us, we will be able to protect you," the leader of the elders said.

Despite uncertainties over how secure Garmser, O'Neill liked what he heard.

"We have something here we can really exploit, if we can get some Afghan national police here," he said. "The Marines can definitely do the job, but we're not a permanent presence. With their own people providing their own security they can really get something done."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Taliban resisting southern Afghan operation: US Marines

Wed May 14, 11:40 AM ET

US Marines have faced "continuous resistance" from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to clear out a key militant stronghold in Afghanistan, a leader of the unit said Wednesday.

US Marines and British troops under NATO command launched the operation in late April in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre.

"We're seeing a continuous resistance," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's second-in-command in Afghanistan.

"They are consistently engaging us," he said, but added that "the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them."

Hayes said Garmser was a "planning, staging and logistic hub" for the rebels.

He refused to comment on militant casualties in the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures.

But Hayes did not deny a statement Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al-Qaeda-linked "foreign fighters," had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.

Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.

"We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that," he said.

Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.

Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north.

Elsehwere in Helmand, two Afghan policemen were killed when their patrol was attacked by Taliban rebels in Marja district, said provincial police chief, Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

The police chief said villagers reported that 10 rebels were also killed in the four-hour-long gunbattle, "but we didn't see their bodies."

In another incident in the northeastern province of Kunduz, unknown gunmen shot dead a teacher, said provincial police chief Ayoub Salangi.

"A teacher who had spoken against suicide bombings in a village gathering was shot dead by unknown men. We don't know who has killed him," Salangi told AFP.

There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government fight the Taliban-led insurgency and rebuild the country. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help NATO forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.

A separate US-led coalition, including special forces, has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.

The Taliban were removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion launched when the extremist regime did not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies following the 9/11 attacks.

The operation forced Taliban and Al-Qaeda across the border into Pakistan, where Afghan and US officials claim they have safe havens from which they can plot their bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

24th MEU exploits success in Garmsir

5/17/2008 By Staff Sgt. Robert Piper , 24th MEU

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the British forces of Task Force Helmand launched an operation to enhance security for the citizens of the Garmsir District in Southern Helmand Province April 28.

By engaging with the leaders of Garmsir to determine what is required to bring stability to their district – a district which has seen little International Security Assistance Force presence in the recent past, these forces will help facilitate long-term change and improvement.

Garmsir has long been used as a planning, staging and logistics hub by the neo-Taliban. Through capturing identified enemy strong points and defensive positions south of Task Force Helmand forward operating bases, Marines opened previously denied routes through the Garmsir District to the economically vital Helmand green zone, while simultaneously disrupting insurgent activities in the area.

“The Marines gain ground every day and secure more of the routes through the district. The support we have received from our allied partners has contributed to our many successes thus far,” said Col Peter Petronzio, commanding officer, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, International Security Assistance Force.

In contrast to recent tactics, insurgents have demonstrated a persistent and concerted effort to resist the advancement of troops and hold ground. Marines consistently encounter disorganized resistance in the form of small arms, indirect fire, and rocket propelled grenades. Despite stouter than expected resistance, Marines have succeeded in a region that was previously unsecured.

"The number of fighters that stood and fought is kind of surprising to me, but obviously they're fighting for something," Maj. Tom Clinton, executive officer, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 24th MEU, said. "They're flowing in; guys are going south and picking up arms. We have an opportunity to really clear them out, cripple them, so I think we're exploiting the success we're finding."

The effectiveness of the Marine’s approach is already evident on the ground.

"We have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms, said Lt Col. Kent Hayes, executive officer, 24th MEU." “Because we've seen fighters coming in from other areas, the rest of Helmand, rather than from just around Garmsir, that is telling us about the success we're having, that we are affecting and disrupting them. We are defeating the enemy when they oppose us and, when they reinforce, we're defeating them as well."

Success in the region is complex, not defined merely by defeating insurgents, but also by the manner in which you aid the people who live there.

During lulls in the fighting, Afghan citizens began brining children to the Marines for medical treatment, including an 11 year-old boy with abdominal wounds, which his father said was inflicted by insurgents. He, as well as one baby, have been treated and returned safely to their families.

“I think the most telling aspect is that, an Afghan citizen of Garmsir had no qualms about bringing his wounded child to a newly established Marine position where Marines were heavily armed,” said Petronzio. “Here is a man who has first-hand experience of life under the Taliban. He knows that with them there is no offer of hope, no plan and no future. He knows we are here to help.”

As the fighting stabilized in areas, Marines also were able to find and meet with village leaders. In meetings with Afghan elders, the sun-aged, bearded men said that the two sides could "join together" to fight the Taliban. "When you protect us, we will be able to protect you."

As for how long this operation will last or how far south the Marines will pursue insurgents, it is to be determined.

"This is the start," said Hayes. "We started in Garmsir. As far as ending it, I will tell you that it's not time-driven. We will leave Garmsir at the time and place of our choosing."

To date, the Marines have discovered 10 caches. The caches contained variations of mines, rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and IED making materials. They also identified and control detonated 6 IEDs and discovered and destroyed several fortified enemy positions.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines emphasize character building in Afghan police mission


By Kristen Noel
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2008 – The 1st Marine Division’s 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines’ is focusing on Afghan people, not on fighting terrorists, the battalion commander said May 16.

‘What’s unique about our mission is that we’re doing a police training and mentoring mission, as opposed to coming in here kinetically like a lot of our past exploits have been, especially in Iraq,’ Marine Corps Lt. Col. Richard Hall told online journalists and ‘bloggers’ in a teleconference.

The 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, deployed at the end of March for this mission to assist Afghanistan’s Regional Security Command South with their focused district development program for Afghan police. The program rotates local police forces through eight weeks of uniformed-officer training at a central location, while highly trained Afghan national civil police work in their districts.

Hall explained that the battalion also will facilitate ‘in-district reform’ police training for districts the Afghan national civil police are unable to backfill due to personnel shortages. ‘That is kind of the way that we can fast-track getting more of these districts [to] get their police trained,’ he said.

The 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, had success in Iraq executing the police mission in Anbar province, Hall said, and he added that before this deployment, the battalion completed a month-long training exercise called ‘Mojave Viper,’ designed specifically to prepare them for the police situation in Afghanistan.

‘We spent quite a bit of time focusing on escalation-of-force vignettes,’ he said. That training, he explained, focuses on the civil portion of police work.

Though the battalion will do the quantifiable work of improving the Afghans’ policing skills, Hall said, the enduring piece of the training will need to be the mentoring and character development -- ‘in other words, doing the right thing when no one is looking,’ he said.

‘The reason for that is, whether or not we get replaced, … we need to teach a man to fish so that they could be self-sufficient with or without our presence,’ he explained. ‘They need to have the credibility and the respectability of their people in order to maintain that law and order presence, even if we’re absent.’

Hall said he believes that since the Marines and the Afghans are both ‘of a warrior culture,’ the battalion will be able to earn the credibility needed to influence and affect the character of the district police officers.

‘I think [the Afghans are] … going to catch the sense that we’re really sincere about our mission and what we’re trying to do, and they’re going to make no distinction between us and them,’ Hall said. ‘I think that’s really going to add to the character piece, because they absolutely do respect that of other men -- you know, sharing the danger and so forth.’

But although that factor works in his favor, he acknowledged, it won’t be easy.

‘We don’t pretend that it’s not going to be a huge challenge,’ he said. ‘The truth will be in action, when we actually get out there, and we give it a try. We can only hope that everything I’ve said comes true.’

(Kristen Noel works for the New Media branch of the American Forces Information Service.)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Photos Show Marine's Narrow Escape From Death in Afghanistan

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Garmser district has been the center of a joint operation of U.S. and British troops designed to put pressure on Taliban insurgents, Agence France-Presse reports.

Troops have targeted this region on the Pakistan border that has served as a route for supplies and reinforcements for insurgents since April 28.

"Definitely they are putting resistance in the area because Garmser is very important for them," Gen. Carlos Branco, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, told the AFP.

"Garmser is a planning, staging and logistics hub. Once lost it will mean a severe defeat for them," he told the agency. "That is why they are reinforcing with insurgents coming from other places, both north and south."

Branco told the AFP that the insurgents had suffered "heavy" losses.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...-38197,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,3999,00.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...graphing_1.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Wednesday, May 21, 2008


Distant, impersonal attacks in Afghanistan
U.S. forces rain down artillery on enemy in Narang Valley

By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, May 21, 2008

NARANG VALLEY, Afghanistan — The CH-47 Chinook landed on the dusty hilltop shortly before midnight.

About 30 soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment leapt out in a swirling maelstrom of grit kicked up by the massive bird’s twin rotor blades.

The troops were expecting action. The latest intelligence indicated that enemy fighters had emplaced a heavy machine gun and an 82 mm mortar in the nearby hills. As many as 40 enemy fighters were reported in the area.

The mission had been planned for nearly a month, so it came as no surprise that advance word may have leaked to the enemy.

"Over time, maybe somebody told one of their buddies who worked in the chow hall, who told someone else [who told the enemy]," said 1st Lt. Brendan Kennedy, leader of 3rd Platoon.

Getting in and getting out would be the tricky part, said Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Smith, of Lewistown, Pa., a 13-year veteran. But with plenty of overhead cover from an AC-130 gunship, F-15 fighters and a B-1 bomber, the risks would probably be negligible.

"If anybody is out there tonight, they’ll probably be dead," Kennedy said.

The landing went off without a hitch, and the troops encountered no enemy fire. After settling in for the night, they started fortifying their positions as soon as dawn broke.

"Operation Rock Penetrator," which started nearly two weeks ago, was the latest U.S. effort to disrupt enemy activity in this rugged mountain valley in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. The operation involved more than 100 U.S. soldiers and another 30 or so Afghan army troops.

U.S. forces would hold the high ground while Afghan forces cleared the village of Badel, down in the valley, a frequently-used stopover for enemy fighters infiltrating into the region from Pakistan.

The next morning was mostly quiet, except for the roar of jets and helicopters overhead, and the occasional thunder of artillery strikes in the valley. But everything changed around 1 p.m., when a group of six to eight enemy fighters came up the hill and almost stumbled into the U.S. positions. They made it to within 300 meters before Smith told Spc. Brandon Davidson, 21, of Lake Placid, Fla., and Sgt. Alexander Ditsen, 29, of Cape Coral, Fla., to open fire with their M-203 grenade launchers.

Davidson, Ditsen and Spc. James Corona, 21, of San Antonio, lobbed more than three dozen rounds. The militants were apparently taken by surprise, and did not return fire.

"We got our point across," said Smith, the platoon sergeant. "They still don’t know where we are."

The fighters appeared to have retreated down the hill and across a narrow spur to the opposite ridge, several hundred meters away. Smith called for an artillery strike.

Spc. Timothy Locklear, 23, of Greenville, S.C., worked up a grid coordinate, and soon a barrage of 155 mm artillery rounds pounded the fighters’ suspected location. An A-10 Thunderbolt followed soon after, raking the hillside with 30 mm cannon fire.

A pair of OH-58 Kiowa helicopters swept past overhead a couple of hours later, assessing the damage. But it was unclear how many of the enemy had been killed.

Down in the valley, the Afghan troops clearing Badel found two anti-tank mines in a house and some bomb-making materials. They arrested one man.

The next morning, a dead man, dressed in white, was spotted next to a rock on the opposite ridgeline, a likely casualty from the artillery and airstrikes the day before.

Just before 10 a.m., three more enemy fighters were spotted on the ridgeline, close to where the body lay. The soldier called in another artillery strike. A man’s voice soon came over the enemy’s radio, calling for the men. They did not answer.

"Those rounds were perfect," said Smith. "Right on target. Where that one guy was standing, there is nothing but a crater."

The strikes continued off and on throughout the second day and into the night, whenever U.S. forces got a definite fix on the enemy positions. The killing was distant and impersonal.

As evening approached, heavy machine-gun fire broke out in the distance. Another platoon had come under contact. But there were no U.S. casualties. Soon, more U.S. artillery was raining down on suspected enemy hide-outs.

After one barrage, a surveillance aircraft reported seeing dozens of "hotspots" — infrared signatures — of people fleeing the area. Another strike was planned.

As they waited for the Chinooks to come back and pick them up, one soldier said aloud that he hoped there were no women and children among the group. Another soldier said he hoped there were.

"You don’t mean that," the first soldier said, in the dark.

"Yes, I do," the second one said. "You know what women are here? They’re ACM multipliers."

ACM stands for "anti-coalition militia."

"No, you don’t," the first soldier said, again.

A third soldier decided to lighten the mood. "They’re not ACM anymore," he said. "They’re now FOE."

"FOE?" someone asked.

"Yeah," the third soldier said. "Forces of Evil."

In the dark, everyone laughed. Within an hour, the Chinooks had arrived. The mission was over.

Photos
http://www.stripes.com/08/may08/afghan_gallery/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines Land in Afghanistan — With Biometrics
By David Axe

A year ago this June, Taliban fighters streamed into the remote town of Chora in southern Afghanistan expecting an easy victory over impoverished villagers. Instead, they met heavy resistance from scores of uniformed Afghan men.

Those so-called Afghan National Auxiliary Police (ANAP), all formerly in the service of local warlords, had received two months of training by Dutch and American soldiers and were now the first line of defense against the Taliban.

Arming tribesmen was a risky idea. True, this sort of tribal initiative had been effective in Iraq. But NATO commanders feared that Afghan loyalties to their warlords ran too deep. NATO was “arming people who were not necessarily in line with the [Afghan] government,” U.S. Brig. Gen. Robert Cone told Wired.com.

So, last month, NATO fired the auxiliary cops and scrapped the tribal strategy, leaving gaping holes in Afghanistan's defenses. The fix? Marines, of course, armed with fingerprint pads, iris scanners and electronic databases.

With these biometric tools, the Marines are planning to recruit new cops who have no ties to tribal warlords. “We know there are some shadow police and some militia-type police,” Lt. Col. Ray Hall, the Marine commander, said. “Once we go through the vetting process, we'll have everybody screened … so that problem should go away.”

That means scanning every new recruit's unique iris “eye prints,” logging their thumb prints and feeding it all into a growing, but still very spotty, national database linked to criminal and intelligence records. If a cop has any known warlord ties, he's disqualified from serving.

CIA teams used FBI biometrics while hunting for known Al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan in 2001, and since then, the military has gathered data on almost every Afghan it comes in regular contact with.

There's one more problem. Not all the military databases can talk to one another. “We haven't standardized,” said Larry Schneider, a Northrop Grumman VP who last year was working on collapsing many biometrics systems into just one.

Until everyone is looking at the same data, seditious Afghan cops will probably keep falling through the cracks.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

May 27, 2008
Optimism Grows as Marines Push Against Taliban
By CARLOTTA GALL

GARMSER, Afghanistan — For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.

But it took the Marines, specifically the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 96 hours to clear out the Taliban in a fierce battle in the past month and push them back about 6 miles.

It was their first major combat operation since landing in March, and it stood in stark contrast to the events of a year earlier, when a Marine unit was removed in disgrace within weeks of arriving because its members shot and killed 19 civilians after a suicide bombing attack.

This time, the performance of the latest unit of marines, here in Afghanistan for seven months to help bolster NATO forces, will be under particular scrutiny. The NATO-led campaign against the Taliban has not only come under increasing pressure for its slow progress in curbing the insurgency, but it has also been widely criticized for the high numbers of civilian casualties in the fighting.

The marines’ drive against the Taliban in this large farming region is certainly not finished, and the Taliban have often been pushed out of areas in Afghanistan only to return in force later. But for the British forces and Afghan residents here, the result of the recent operation has been palpable.

The district chief returned to his job from his refuge in the provincial capital within days of the battle and 200 people — including 100 elders of the community — gathered for a meeting with him and the British to plan the regeneration of the town.

“They have disrupted the Taliban’s freedom of movement and pushed them south, and that has created the grounds for us to develop the hospital and set the conditions for the government to come back,” said Maj. Neil Den-McKay, the officer commanding a company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland based here. People have already started coming back to villages north of the town, he said, adding, “There has been huge optimism from the people.”

For the marines, it was a chance to hit the enemy with the full panoply of their firepower in places where they were confident there were few civilians. The Taliban put up a tenacious fight, rushing in reinforcements in cars and vans from the south and returning repeatedly to the attack, but they were beaten back in four days by three companies of marines, two of which were dropped in by helicopter to the southeast.

In the days after the assault began, hundreds of families, their belongings packed high on tractor-trailers, fled north from villages in the southern part of the battle zone, according to marines staffing a checkpoint. The Taliban told them to leave as the fighting began, they said. Hospital officials in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, reported receiving eight civilian casualties as a result of the fighting, including a 14-year-old boy who died from his injuries. The marines did not sustain any casualties, but one was killed and two were wounded in subsequent clashes.

Marines from the unit’s Company C said the reaction from the returning civilians, mostly farmers, had been favorable. “Everyone says they don’t like the Taliban,” said Capt. John Moder, 34, the commander of the company. People had complained that the Taliban stole food, clothes and vehicles from them, he said.

There are about 34,000 American troops in Afghanistan, with more than 3,000 marines having been sent into the country after NATO requested additional help in the south, where the Taliban are particularly strong.

The deployment occurred almost a year after up to 19 unarmed civilians were killed and 50 people wounded on March 4, 2007, when a Marine convoy opened fire after a suicide car bomb wounded one marine. On Friday, the Marine Corps said it would not bring charges against two of the commanding officers from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit for the episode, a decision that was greeted with dismay in Afghanistan.

The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, had a checklist of tasks around the country for 3,200 marines when they arrived in March. But the majority of them have spent a month in Garmser after changing their original plan, which was to secure a single road here, when they realized how important the area was to the Taliban as an infiltration and supply route to fighters in northern part of Helmand Province.

“This is an artery, and we did not realize that when we squeezed that artery, it would have such an effect,” said First Lt. Mark Matzke, the executive officer of Company C.

They also realized it was worth exploiting their initial success. The whole area was unexpectedly welcoming to the American forces and eager for security and development, Captain Moder said. “Us pushing the Taliban out allows the Afghan National Army to come in,” he said. “This is a real breadbasket here. There’s a lot of potential here.”

This southern part of Helmand Province, along the Helmand River valley, is prime agricultural land and still benefits from the large-scale irrigation plan kicked off by American government assistance in the 1950s and 1960s. It has traditionally been the main producer of wheat and other crops for the country. During the last 30 years of war, however, the area has given way to poppy production, providing a large percentage of the crop that has made Afghanistan the producer of 98 percent of the world’s opium.

The region has long been an infiltration route for insurgents coming across the southern border with Pakistan, crossing from Baluchistan Province in Pakistan via an Afghan refugee camp known as Girdi Jungle. The Taliban, and the drug runners, then race across a region known ominously as the desert of death until they reach the river valley, which provides the ideal cover of villages and greenery.

With such a large area under their control, the Taliban were able to gather in numbers, stockpile weapons and provide a logistics route to send fighters and weapons into northern Helmand and the provinces of Kandahar and Oruzgan beyond.

The Taliban, who kicked out villagers and took over their farmhouses, were also mixed with an unusual proportion of Arabs and Pakistanis, Major Den-McKay said.

“The majority of elements in this area are Arab and Pakistani, and the locals detest them,” he said. The insurgent commanders were from Iran, which shares a border with Afghanistan to the southwest, as well as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, he said.

Afghan villagers confirmed that there were local Afghan Taliban fighting, too. But they also said that there were Pakistanis, ethnic Baluchis from southern Iran and Arabs fighting as well.

Locals complained that the Taliban taxed them heavily on the opium harvest. They demanded up to about 30 pounds of opium from every farmer, which was more than the entire harvest of some, so they were forced to go and buy opium to meet the demand, said Abdul Taher, a 45-year-old farmer.

“We had a lot of trouble these last two years,” said Sher Ahmad, 32. “We are very grateful for the security,” said his father, Abdul Nabi, the elder of a small hamlet in the village of Hazarjoft, a few miles south of Garmser. “We don’t need your help, just security,” he said.

Villagers were refusing humanitarian aid offered by the marines because the Taliban were already infiltrating back and threatening anyone who took it, Lieutenant Matzke said.

After a month in the region, the marines have secured only half of a roughly six-square-mile area south of Garmser. Taliban forces operating out of two villages are still attacking the southern flank of the marines and are even creeping up to fire at British positions on the edge of the town.

But the bigger test will come in the next few weeks as the marines move on and the Afghans, supported by the British, take over. The concern here is that the Taliban will try to blend in among the returning villagers and orchestrate attacks.

Major Den-McKay said they were ready. “The threat will migrate from direct attacks to suicide attacks” and roadside bombs, he said.

Now on his fourth tour in Afghanistan, Major Den-McKay said he had seen considerable progress in the confidence and ability of the Afghan security forces. Reinforcements of the police, trained and mentored by the British and Americans, have already moved in and are working well with border police and intelligence service personnel, he said.

The marines, meanwhile, prepare for their next move. To the south are miles upon miles of uncontrolled territory where the Taliban still operate freely, as well as a dozen other districts around the country demanding their attention.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines push back Taliban

By CARLOTTA GALL

The New York Times





GARMSER, Afghanistan — For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.

But it took the Marines, specifically the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 96 hours to clear out the Taliban in a fierce battle in the past month and push them back six miles.

It was their first major combat operation since landing in March, and it stood in contrast to the events of a year earlier, when a Marine unit was removed in disgrace within weeks of arriving because its members shot and killed 19 civilians after a suicide bombing.

This time, the performance of the latest unit of Marines, here in Afghanistan for seven months to help bolster NATO forces, will be under particular scrutiny. The NATO-led campaign against the Taliban have not only come under increasing pressure for its slow progress in curbing the insurgency, but it also has been widely criticized for the high numbers of civilian casualties.

The Marines' drive against the Taliban in this large farming region is certainly not finished, and the Taliban have often been pushed out of areas in Afghanistan only to return in force later. But for the British forces and Afghan residents here, the result of the recent operation has been palpable.

The district chief returned to his job from his refuge in the provincial capital within days of the battle and 200 people — including 100 elders of the community — gathered for a meeting with him and the British to plan the regeneration of the town.

"They have disrupted the Taliban's freedom of movement and pushed them south, and that has created the grounds for us to develop the hospital and set the conditions for the government to come back," said Maj. Neil Den-McKay, the officer commanding a company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland based here. People have already started coming back to villages north of the town, he said, adding: "There has been huge optimism from the people."

For the Marines, it was a chance to hit the enemy with the full panoply of their firepower in places where they were confident there were few civilians. The Taliban put up a tenacious fight, rushing in reinforcements in cars and vans from the south and returning repeatedly to the attack, but they were beaten back in four days by three companies of Marines, two of which were dropped in by helicopter to the southeast.

In the days after the assault began, hundreds of families, their belongings on tractor-trailers, fled north from villages in the southern part of the battle zone, according to Marines staffing a checkpoint. The Taliban told them to leave as the fighting began, they said. Hospital officials in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, reported receiving eight civilian casualties, including a 14-year-old boy who died from his injuries. The Marines did not sustain any casualties, but one was killed and two were wounded in subsequent clashes.

Marines from the unit's Company C said the reaction from the returning civilians, mostly farmers, had been favorable. "Everyone says they don't like the Taliban," said Capt. John Moder, 34, the commander of the company. People had complained that the Taliban stole food, clothes and vehicles, he said.

There are about 34,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with more than 3,000 Marines having been sent into the country after NATO requested additional help in the south, where the Taliban are strong.

The deployment occurred almost a year after as many as 19 unarmed civilians were killed and 50 people wounded March 4, 2007, when a Marine convoy opened fire after a suicide car bomb wounded one Marine.




On Friday, the Marine Corps said it would not bring charges against two of the commanding officers from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit for the episode, a decision that dismayed Afghans.

The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan McNeill, had a checklist of tasks around the country for the 3,200 Marines when they arrived in March. But the majority of them have spent a month in Garmser after changing their original plan, which was to secure a single road here, when they realized how important the area was to the Taliban as an infiltration and supply route to fighters in the northern part of Helmand province.

"This is an artery, and we did not realize that when we squeezed that artery, it would have such an effect," said 1st Lt. Mark Matzke, the executive officer of Company C.

They also realized it was worth exploiting their initial success. The whole area was unexpectedly welcoming to the U.S. forces and eager for security and development, Moder said. "Us pushing the Taliban out allows the Afghan National Army to come in," he said. "This is a real breadbasket here. There's a lot of potential here."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. Marines fighting Taliban in Afghanistan

CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Sun. Jun. 1 2008 10:49 PM ET

The top-ranking U.S. Marine in Afghanistan says his unit is having some success fighting back the Taliban in Helmand province.

While Canadian troops are gradually shifting their focus to reconstruction efforts, the Marines are in Afghanistan purely to fight.

Col. Pete Petronzio, the 47-year-old leader of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told reporters that he hoped his efforts had reduced the number of Taliban in Kandahar, which neighbours Helmand.

"A bunch of Taliban guys used to live where we are right now and they don't live there any more," he told reporters in Kandahar Air Field. "And as far as we are concerned, they aren't coming back. It's a small gain, but it's a gain."

When President George Bush agreed to send 2,400 marines into Afghanistan, some analysts said it would help ease the pressure on Canadian soldiers.

But Petronzio said the Marines have not "come to anyone's rescue."

"We're a bunch of guys that came here to do a job," he said. "And as professionals in the profession of arms we are no different than the Canadians, than the Brits, than the Dutch."

Petronzio added that on April 15, it was the Canadians who helped the Marines, when the Taliban attacked a convoy travelling near a Canadian forward operating base in Zhari district. Two Marines died.

The Marines are currently scheduled for a one-time, seven-month mission. But U.S. officials are considering sending more because they're considered to be the best anti-insurgency force Americans have to offer.

Gen. Dan McNeil, the outgoing U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has said he expects the Taliban to remain a strong threat unless Pakistan cracks down on insurgents near its border.

"If there are going to be sanctuaries where these terrorists, these extremists, these insurgents can train, can recruit, can regenerate, there's still going to be a challenge there," McNeill told The Associated Press on Friday.

According to NATO, there was a 50 per cent rise in militant violence in eastern Afghanistan last month, compared to April 2007.

The new U.S. commander of NATO will be Gen. David D. McKiernan. He will have control of a greatly expanded force -- 51,000 troops, compared with the 36,000 McNeill oversaw in February 2007.

"That says to me that all the wags who in late 2006 and early 2007 who were predicting the failure and the fracture of the NATO alliance here probably got it wrong," said McNeill. "And I'm not trying to smirk or anything, I'm just saying people ought to go back and see what was being written."

With a report by CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Paul Workman and files from The Associated Press

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Taliban flee U.S. Marines onslaught in Afghanistan
Mon Jun 2, 2008 10:44am EDT

By Jon Hemming

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents are fleeing south towards the Afghan border with Pakistan in the face of a U.S. Marines offensive in volatile Helmand province, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said on Monday.

U.S. Marines have been pushing south from the former Taliban stronghold of Garmsir in Helmand for a month in an operation meant to cut off insurgent infiltration routes from Pakistan.

"They have shown under some amount of pressure they flee to their sanctuaries," General Dan McNeill told a news conference.

"In the last two days we have had many reports ... that the insurgents after experiencing these several weeks of pressure below Garmsir are trying to flee to the south perhaps to go back to sanctuaries in another country," he said.

While McNeill was careful not to name any country, the only nation with which Helmand shares a border is Pakistan.

Mainly British troops have been battling the Taliban in Helmand since March 2006, capturing a string of towns in the fertile strip along the Helmand River cutting through the desert.

But Garmsir, the southernmost town of any size in Helmand, and its surrounding villages had previously evaded capture.

Washington dispatched 3,200 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan in March to bolster mainly British, Canadian and Dutch troops in southern Afghanistan after other NATO allies failed to come up with reinforcements.

REGIONAL DANGER

Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of harboring Taliban militants, giving the insurgent leadership a base from which to direct operations and allowing fighters to use Pakistani soil for training, rest and recuperation.

Pakistan admits there is a Taliban presence in its border regions beyond government control, but says it does not help the insurgents, pointing out hundreds of Pakistani troops have died fighting the militants.

NATO and Afghan officials have also cautioned Pakistan over peace talks with Pakistani Taliban insurgents, saying such truces free up the insurgents to launch more attacks into Afghanistan.

"If there are insurgencies in places not in Afghanistan, but very close by, and security forces are not taking them on, I don't think that bodes well for the whole region," said McNeill, who is to hand command of NATO's 50,000-strong International Security Assistance Force to another U.S. general on Tuesday.

"If there is no pressure on insurgents in sanctuaries out of the reach of security forces in this country then I think (insurgent) numbers are likely to grow," he said.

Still not mentioning any country by name, McNeill implied the danger of such truces was that they could backfire.

A suspected suicide car bomber killed six people and wounded 25 in the Pakistani capital on Monday.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Afghan forces backed by foreign troops killed 48 Taliban rebels in clashes and airstrikes in the northwest of Afghanistan on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 3, 2008
U.S. Reports Gains Against Taliban Fighters
By CARLOTTA GALL

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan are fleeing to the Pakistani border after being routed in recent operations by the United States Marines, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said on Monday.

Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been clearing Taliban and foreign fighters from the district of Garmser, in southern Helmand Province, an important infiltration and drug trafficking route used by the Taliban to supply insurgents farther north.

“The insurgents, after experiencing these several weeks of pressure below Garmser, are trying to flee to the south, perhaps to go back to the sanctuaries in another country,” said the NATO commander, Gen. Dan K. McNeill.

He did not name Pakistan, but Helmand Province shares a border with Pakistan, and the Taliban and drug traffickers have long used refugee camps across the border as a sanctuary from American firepower.

The governor of the province, Muhammad Gulab Mangal, also spoke of the rout of the Taliban.

“For the last two days we have information that Taliban are escaping to the border areas,” he said.

The insurgents, including numbers of foreign fighters, were said to be fleeing to Girdi Jungle, an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan, and the border town of Baramcha, as well as the southernmost towns of Dishu and Khaneshin, which sit on the edge of the desert and offer quick access to the border.

Governor Mangal said hundreds of foreign fighters had joined the Taliban in their fight against marines in Garmser in recent weeks.

But he said they had suffered heavy losses.

Nineteen bodies of foreign fighters were found in one location, he said.

General McNeill, who hands over command of NATO forces in Afghanistan this week after 16 months in the post, said that if the Taliban and foreign insurgents continued to enjoy free sanctuary outside Afghanistan, their numbers would continue to grow.

He also seemed to warn Pakistan to contain the threat emanating from its land.

“If there are insurgencies in places that are not in Afghanistan, but very close by, and security forces are not taking them on, I don’t think that bodes well for the whole region,” General McNeill said.

Despite the rout of Taliban forces, the general warned that they were not the only problem in Helmand Province and that the enormous opium crop and the powerful drug business posed a comparable threat to Afghanistan’s stability.

Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed reporting from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

'Clearing out the bad guys'
Canadian troops in Kandahar will benefit from the heavy lifting U.S. Marines are doing

Rosie DiManno
Columnist

KANDAHAR–Modesty does not become the Marines.

Ooh rah!

Which is the Leatherhead ejaculation, not to be mistaken with Delta Forces' hoo-wah.

"Absolutely not have we come to anyone's rescue," insists Col. Pete Petronzio, commanding officer of the 2,400 Marines currently deployed to a high-pucker factor (more jarhead jargon, think squeezed buttocks) battlefield operation in the southern quadrant of Helmand province.

Except, of course, the British have been there for a couple of years, and that opium-engorged province had been reeling increasingly out of control – insofar as any stability ever existed – ground zero for a Taliban insurgency that is unnerving much of Afghanistan and freaking out the Western interventionists.

And the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was indeed summoned specifically – like the cavalry, except that's army – to kick out some jihadist jam; war-wizened, most of them, from tours in Iraq, returning to a country they'd long ago abandoned on orders from their commander-in-chief, that person in the White House, ostensibly leaving the post-invasion mopping up to the U.S. Army (in the east) and the International Security Assistance Force (everywhere else, as of 2004.)

Relief agencies, which are not necessarily to be trusted – embedded journalists have been reporting otherwise – claim the Devil Dogs have been heavy-handed with the local population in Helmand, forcing many to flee their homes during bang-bang thrusts.

Most Canadians would likely cringe at some of the actions the Marines have employed, although these are conventional combat tactics, however contrary to antiquated notions of peacekeeping and group-hug reconciliation, the palaver approach that a certain faction urges for defanging the Taliban.

They blow up compounds – here is the evidence, on their own military website, of a jet fighter zapping a missile at a mud-walled redoubt near Garmser where insurgents had apparently amassed. They use explosives to carve out portals in thick walls so snipers can take aim.

If nothing else, this aggressive "clearing'' operation has certainly seized the Taliban's attention. They had become accustomed, in this critical transit route region, to going about their business willy-nilly, not aggressively pursued, in large part because the Brits didn't have enough of a footprint around Garmser, stuck largely inside their ghost-town outpost, far from the primary base in Lashkar Gah.

Petronzio would not say yesterday how far the Marines have been able to probe and hold, although it appears to be a radius of less than 16 kilometres, for one month's heavy-slogging, heavy-shooting work.

"In our little piece of Helmand, it's going very well," said Petronzio, meeting with Canadian reporters at Kandahar Airfield. "A bunch of Taliban guys used to live where we are right now. They don't live there anymore. And, as far as we're concerned, they're not coming back. It's a small gain, but it's a gain."

There are no Canadian soldiers – officially, shh, can't say more – in Helmand, though Petronzio is quick to acknowledge the deft Canadian response when these Marines had a hairy IED day, early on, Helmand-bound, with two killed and two severely wounded close to a Canadian forward operating base.

And Canadians in Kandahar, with any luck, will benefit from the Marines' operation in Helmand, with jarheads not only drawing Taliban fighters to them but disrupting the enemy's gun-running and drug-smuggling network, perhaps quieting Kandahar somewhat.

"I hope that's a direct positive effect," said Petronzio. "We are on a main artery that runs south to north and potentially east to west. We are attempting to put a stopper in the bottle as far south as we can. Even that's probably not a good analogy because eventually they will flow around us. But we are having an extremely positive effect on their south to north flow. And we will continue to do that."

It is, Petronzio reminds, an asymmetrical fight. "You may think it's clear and tomorrow it isn't. But we're working our way south."

Marines are noted for their counterinsurgency wits and effectiveness. Their focus, as Petronzio explains, is pacifying the environment, whatever that takes, so that others – let us suggest coalition partners not so leathery – can set about implementing the subsequent phases of redevelopment.

"The whole concept behind counterinsurgency is ... clear ... hold ... build. To simplify it as best I could, it's all about clearing out the bad guys, providing that security and holding the ground to bring in the build behind you.''

That's bringing up the rear after somebody else kicks ass.

"Are we uniquely suited to this? I don't know."

Except that he does.

"We may not be uniquely suited to 'the build.' So there will probably have to be someone who does that for a living, to kind of come in behind us."

He didn't mean it as such. But that's a dig.

Columnist Rosie DiManno is on assignment in Afghanistan, where she covered the Taliban's fall in 2001.

Ellie