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US, NATO set to launch massive assault against Taliban-led militants
Posted: 08 February 2010 0121 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
Coalition soldiers check an alleyway during a patrol in Shewan, Farah province, Afghanistan.



KABUL: The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan said on Sunday a major offensive will send a "strong signal" and clear insurgents from their southern stronghold, as residents fled ahead of the assault.

A huge force of US Marines leading NATO and Afghan soldiers is expected to launch the offensive - said by commanders to be the largest assault against Taliban-led militants since the war began - in Helmand province within days.

Operation Mushtarak ("Together") will "send a strong signal that the Afghan government is expanding its security control," said US General Stanley McChrystal, who leads 113,000 US and NATO forces fighting the militants.

The operation is to be centred on the Marjah plain in the central Helmand River valley, home to around 80,000 people and said by military officials to be the last bastion of Taliban control. As part of his counter-insurgency strategy emphasising development and governance, McChrystal said the Marjah operation was not about killing Taliban fighters but eradicating the militant threat.

Whether fighters left the region or rejoined society - as President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation programme encourages them to do - the aim was to establish Afghan civilian governance, he said. "We're trying to make this not a military operation only, but a civilian and military operation because the thing that is changing is not just going to be the level of security in the area but the governance," McChrystal said.

"So all the planning for this operation has been led by the civilian side with the military in support - and of course this is an Afghan-led operation." The head of the provincial refugees and repatriation department said authorities were preparing to receive up to 10,000 people, as about 2,000 had already left Marjah. "Around 400 families have been displaced from the Nad Ali and Marjah areas," said Ghulam Farouq Noorzai.

Authorities had set up an emergency response committee in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah to provide food and shelter for those fleeing, he said. A mini-van driver who would not give his name, told AFP: "I have made five or six trips between Marjah and Lashkah Gar today, bringing people out of the area."

Marjah, home to 80,000 people, is a major base for growing poppies, the raw material of opium and heroin, which help fund the insurgency. Officials say farmers are coerced by militants into growing poppies rather than other crops. "For individuals who live in Marjah, who right now live under Taliban control with narco-traffickers there, they don't have a lot of choices," McChrystal told reporters.

"We are trying to communicate to them that when the government re-establishes security they'll have choices." "They'll have choices on the crops they grow, they'll have the ability to move that produce to appropriate markets, they won't be limited to narco-traffickers who can force them into that," he added.

Mushtarak echoes assaults last year - the British Operation Panther's Claw and the Marines' Operation Dagger - that were seen as successfully eradicating militants who had controlled other poppy-growing regions in the Helmand valley. Preparatory operations around Marjah, south of Lashkar Gah, have been going on for weeks, with leaflets dropped on the area from NATO helicopters warning residents of the assault to come.

Military officials said the operation had been planned in cooperation with Afghan authorities, and would enable them to move in to establish civilian institutions, including police, education and health. Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, who started his new job Sunday, said Marjah would provide an example of how "governance and development follows up any advances we make in security".

"To the Afghan citizen what matters is can his kids get to school, is the school open, is the clinic open, can they get decent justice from the Afghan government rather than the Taliban?" Sedwill said. Sedwill, until this month British ambassador to Afghanistan, echoed McChrystal in saying "the situation in Afghanistan remains serious but is no longer deteriorating.

"Both of us are confident... that at the end of 2010 we will be in a much better position than we are now," he said. - AFP/de

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I already concluded that Obama & his military ability is WORST THAN BUSH after his 1 year+ in White House.

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They sending in Unemployed men,
sons and daughters of United States of America !

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Troops Flush Out Taliban Ahead Of Major Battle

Tuesday February 09, 2010

British troops are flushing out Taliban fighters from farmland as they prepare for what may be the biggest battle in Afghanistan since 2001.

Up to 15,000 troops - made up of British, American and Afghan soldiers - are ready to embark on Operation Moshtarak. The battle promises to be a bloody one and defence chiefs have warned to expect more British casualties. Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has been with soldiers based in the Babaji area of Afghanistan as they make their way across highly exposed farmland in the area. He said troops were often just metres away from the Taliban and were regularly hit by enemy fire.

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A soldier makes his way across exposed farmland in Helmand

Speaking in darkness from Helmand, Ramsay said: "The countdown clock for Operation Moshtarak has actually started - we just don't know when the clock will stop. "But it is worth remembering that British, American and Afghan forces are already carrying out operations. They are testing the Taliban." Ramsay said that soldiers were "flushing out" the enemy ahead of the fight, a phase known as "shaping". "Soldiers are as close as 100 yards from the Taliban at any one time. It's extremely dangerous," he said.



Stuart Ramsay live in Helmand

Ramsay said it was "striking" how little control the British forces have in areas at the extreme end of the land taken in Operation Panther's Claw last year. "And that is why Operation Moshtarak is being planned," he added. "To take and hold towns and villages and land from the Taliban permanently. At least, that is the plan." Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said Operation Moshtarak could mark the end of the middle phase of Nato's involvement in Afghanistan. Around 4,000 British troops will be involved, together with up to 9,000 Americans and a large contingent of Afghan soldiers. Moshtarak means "together" in Dari. The name is designed to signal that the Afghan Army is now playing an equal role in fighting the Taliban. The assault focuses on the town of Marjah and will be the biggest test so far for the Afghan forces. Marshall said: "Success could eventually lead to a significant reduction of troop numbers in an orderly fashion. "Failure could lead to a rush for the exit. It will be months before the picture is clearer."

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World
Feb 13, 2010

Assault claims 1st casualties



Thousands of US-led troops have begun a major offensive against one of the Taleban insurgents' last bastions in southern Afghanistan. --PHOTO: AFP

MARJAH (Afghanistan) - A MASSIVE assault force taking on the Talrban in southern Afghanistan claimed its first kills on Saturday within hours of launching its biggest operation since US President Barack Obama's troop surge, an Afghan army commander said. Five Taleban militants were killed soon after US-led troops helicoptered into Marjah in the poppy-growing belt of Helmand province, said Sher Mohammad Zazai, commander of the Afghan Army's 205 Corps. 'According to initial reports, five enemy have been killed,' he said. 'Two were killed in one location, three in another. They were killed in face-to-face fighting,' he told reporters by video link from Helmand's capital of Lashkar Gah.

Chinook helicopters filled the pre-dawn skies over Marjah as 15,000 troops led by US Marines launched the first major offensive since Mr Obama's new troop surge aimed at bringing an end to the eight-year war. Hundreds of Afghan, US and British troops had been dropped into Marjah town for Operation Mushtarak ('together' in Dari), ahead of ground forces, a US Marines officer told AFP. 'At 0230 this morning (2200 GMT, 6am Singapore time), helicopters inserted combined forces into Marjah town,' said Lieutenant Josh Diddams, spokesman for the US Marines at Taskforce Leatherneck in Helmand. 'We are now moving forward on the ground and meeting minimal resistance,' he said. -- AFP

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Reports From Front Line Of Afghan Attack

Saturday February 13, 2010

One of the biggest helicopter assaults in British military history has been launched against the Taliban in Afghanistan. At Camp Bastion, the British military's centre of operations, I joined thousands of British and Afghan troops boarding dozens of helicopters as Operation Moshtarak began. The Royal Welsh took the lead with their troops and Afghan partners flying at only 500ft above the desert, landing at a series of specified targets in the Nad-e-Ali area of Helmand under cover of darkness.

The objective, initially at least, is very simple: to wipe out the Taliban's main stronghold in this part of Helmand. Nad-e-Ali for the British and the town of Marjah for an even bigger force, between eight and 10,000, of American Marines. The Royal Welsh and the Afghan National Army are out trying to meet local people but there is a certain amount of fighting take place. We have spent most of the day going through fields and alleyways, mindful always of course of IEDs, but all in all it has been very quiet. In the early hours of the operation I could hear fighting - sometimes sporadic, sometimes quite heavy, about 200m-300m away from where I am.

The Royal Welsh have met a lot of very senior people and they think they have made some very good in-roads with local elders, which is part of the mission. The word from the troops is that it has been a very good day but it's not the end, it's only the first day and some sort of fightback from the Taliban is expected in the coming days. The Operation has taken months of planning. Campaigns of disruption - "shaping", it's called - have been going on for two months. The SAS have carried out attacks on the Taliban leadership - killing many and taking out their heavy weapons.

The Coldstream Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Welsh have all been on the ground testing the Taliban positions and trying to get the message out to local people that the battle is about restoring order and allowing normal government to develop. In his eve of battle speech the British forces commander, Brigadier James Cowan, told hundreds of troops standing on weapons systems and vehicles to be used in the assault that this was an operation to embrace the civilian population.

Where we go, we will stay. Where we stay we will build. We offer an open hand in friendship to those who do not wish to fight. For those who will not shake our hand they will find it closed into a fist.

Brigadier James Cowan, British forces commander

"Soon we will clear the Taliban from its safe havens in central Helmand," he said. "Where we go, we will stay. Where we stay we will build. We offer an open hand in friendship to those who do not wish to fight. For those who will not shake our hand they will find it closed into a fist." The Brigadier told me they would make a difference this time because that there will be enough troops to dominate the ground. It confirms what many believe that there have never been enough British troops to carry out the sort of missions expected of them.

This is just a battle of course, but the British, American and Afghan governments hope it will bring about a permanent change in Helmand. It is just the start and a big ask. As the operation gets going there will be many many families huddled together in their homes scared and frightened by the noise. How they react to this over a period of days and weeks will be critical to its success.

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The unmanned aircraft, Sky drone 'spots' Taliban's Homemade Bombs (IED) for Operation Moshtarak.

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Operation Moshtarak, Commander's Speech

Lt Col Nick Lock, Commander of the Royal Welsh Battle Group, speaks to soldiers about the upcoming Operation Moshtarak in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. NATO-TV

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Raw Video : Operation Moshtarak

Video of troops boarding helicopters. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) announced today that key military clearing operations for Operation Moshtarak have begun in central Helmand. MOD/Crown Copyright 2010

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US marines of 1/3 Marine Weapons Company and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers open fire on a Taliban position on the northeast of Marjah. Twelve Afghan civilians were killed Sunday during a major US-led offensive against Taliban in southern Afghanistan, as commanders said booby traps and snipers were slowing progress.
(AFP/Patrick Baz)




A U.S. Marine helps cover an army medevac helicopter mission to pick up up a wounded marine, in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday Feb. 14, 2010. Thousands of US and Afghan troops are grinding their way towards the center of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, encountering sniper fire, home-made bombs, booby traps, and minefields.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)




U.S. Army Crew Chief Spc. Emil Rivera, of Tuscon, Ariz., with Task Force Pegasus, keeps watch at the door of his Black Hawk helicopter during a medevac mission over Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday Feb. 14, 2010. Pegasus crews have come under fire daily while on missions supporting U.S. and Afghan troops taking part in an ongoing assault in the Taliban-held town of Marjah.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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U.S. soldiers exchange fire with insurgents as Afghan soldiers run for cover during a firefight with insurgents in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. The soldiers are operating in support of a U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban in Marjah area.
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)




A Canadian soldier points at the direction of fire coming from insurgents to an Afghan National Army soldier during a firefight in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. The soldiers are operating in support of a U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban in Marjah area.
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)




U.S. soldiers exchange fire with insurgents, as others, in the background, run for cover in the Badula Qulp area, West of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. The soldiers are operating in support of a U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban in Marjah area.
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

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A U.S. Marine engineer, searching for improvised explosive devises, stops as an Afghan villager emerges to look at him in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Sunday Feb. 14, 2010.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

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In this photo released by Britain's Ministry of Defense, a member of the F Company (Fire Support) 1 Royal Welsh takes a retina image of an Afghan during operation 'Moshtarak' Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, near Marjah, in Afghanistan's Helmand province. British troops are among the thousands of NATO and Afghan soldiers who stormed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah by air and ground Saturday.
(AP Photo/Ministry of Defense, SSGT Mark Jones)




In this photo released by Britain's Ministry of Defense, members of the F Company (Fire Support) 1 Royal Welsh take position during operation 'Moshtarak' Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, near Marjah, in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
(AP Photo/Ministry of Defense, Cpl. Joe Blogs)




In this photo released by Britain's Ministry of Defense, members of the F Company (Fire Support) 1 Royal Welsh take position during operation 'Moshtarak' Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, near Marjah, in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
(AP Photo/Ministry of Defense, Cpl. Joe Blogs)

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U.S. Marines point their rifles, scanning for Taliban fighters as they cover the departure of a U.S. Army Pegasus medevac helicopter which picked up a wounded Marine from their unit, in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday Feb. 13, 2010. U.S. Army Task Force Pegasus aero-medical crews are are supporting U.S. Marines who are taking the Taliban-held town of Marjah in a major offensive to break the extremists' grip over their southern heartland and re-establish government control.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)




Taliban fighters are airborne in a Black hawk helicopter on a U.S. Army medevac mission, as flight medics attend to two wounded Taliban fighters captured after a firefight, according to the Marines on the ground, over Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday Feb. 13, 2010. Aero-medical crews of Task Force Pegasus are positioned throughout southern Afghanistan.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)




Airborne in a Black hawk helicopter on a U.S. Army medevac misssion, a Marine MP, left, guards a Taliban fighter who is wounded, along with two other seriously wounded Taliban fighters captured after a firefight, according to the Marines on the ground, over Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Saturday Feb. 13, 2010. Aero-medical crews of Task Force Pegasus are positioned throughout southern Afghanistan.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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US-led troops helicoptered into Marjah in the poppy-growing belt of Helmand province in the biggest military operation in Afghanistan since US President Barack Obama ordered a troop surge. Images of US marines with 1/3 Charlie Company engaging with the Taliban northeast of Marjah. Duration: 01:12.
(AFP)




US marines take aim during a battle against the Taliban in Marjah on February 12.
(AFP/File/Patrick Baz)



(AFP/File/Patrick Baz)




Map shows area of U.S./Afghan offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan with a breakdown of troops involved

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Afghan policemen ride a pickup truck in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. Security has a visible presence in Kabul, as some thousands of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers stormed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah before dawn Saturday, in an offensive into the biggest southern Afghan town under militant control, aimed at breaking the Taliban grip over a wide area of their southern heartland.
(AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)




Smoke rises from a hellfire missile strike as U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment make their way to enter Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)




A U.S. military helicopter hovers over the site of a suicide attack in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010.
(AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)




Canadian soldiers patrol near the site of a suicide attack in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010. Afghan National Army Maj. Abdul Rahman says international troops were killed when suicide bomber on a motorbike targeted a joint foot patrol of Afghan and U.S. soldiers in Kandahar province, which lies next to Helmand.
(AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)




U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment carry a bridge to set up across a canal as they enter Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

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US : Taliban Military Leader Captured In Raid

James Jordan

The top Taliban military chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured in Pakistan, US officials say.Residents search for victims a day after a suicide bomb attack in Shah Hasan Khan in Bannu district, bordering the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. Mullah Baradar, who is effectively the second in command of the Taliban, was captured in a joint operation between the Pakistani intelligence agency, known as the ISI, and the CIA. The raid took place several days ago in the city of Karachi. But a Taliban spokesman denied Mullah Baradar had been captured and was still in Afghanistan actively organising the group's military and political activities.

"He has not been captured. They want to spread this rumour just to divert the attention of people from their defeats in Marjah and confuse the public," Zabihullah Mujahid said. US officials say he is the most significant Taliban figure captured since the start of the Afghanistan war. But one American official warned: "Even when you get their leaders, they've shown an amazing resilience to bounce back. It's an adaptive organisation." Sky's Alex Crawford said: "The man is being interrogated primarily by the ISI but also by the Americans.

"It's not clear exactly where is being held, whether he is still in Karachi or not - I would doubt that as they would be very wary of attempts to try to kill him or try to free him. "According to Pakistani officials, they say he is giving them some key evidence about the whereabouts of Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders." Mullah Baradar is the Taliban's most senior figure behind the reclusive Mullah Omar, who has been hiding from Western agencies since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

British forces are currently fighting alongside US and Afghan forces in NATO's biggest offensives against Taliban militants in Afghanistan - Operation Moshtarak. More than 15,000 British, American, Afghan and other troops are taking part in Moshtarak to reclaim the town of Marjah from Taliban control. Crawford added of Baradar's capture: "The timing of this announcement is very, very convenient - it will be portrayed as a good, successful coup by the Coalition troops and by the Pakistani authorities."

The New York Times newspaper said it learned of the operation to capture him on Thursday, but delayed reporting it after a request by White House officials who said disclosing it would end a very successful intelligence drive. It said it was now publishing the report because White House officials acknowledged that news of the capture was becoming broadly known in the region.

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One of the large Taliban IED caches found in a compound in Showal, Helmand
Picture: JULIAN SIMMONDS



A US marine with 1/3 Charlie Company rests in the north east of Marjah



A soldier from F Company (Fire Support) 1 Royal Welsh resting during Operation Moshtarak in the Nadi Ali District


British troops pictured with Afghan soldiers listen to a speech by Brig James Cowan OBE at Camp Bastion prior to Operation Moshtarak
Picture: JULIAN SIMMONDS


U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment walk in a column as they enter Marjah
Picture: AP

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World
Feb 18, 2010

Taleban using human shields

MARJAH (Afghanistan) - TALEBAN fighters holding out in Marjah are increasingly using civilians as human shields, firing from compounds where US and Afghan forces can clearly see women and children on rooftops or in windows, Afghan and US troops said on Wednesday. The intermingling of fighters and civilians also has been witnessed by Associated Press journalists. It is part of a Taleban effort to exploit strict Nato rules against endangering innocent lives to impede the allied advance through the town in Helmand province, 610km south-west of Kabul. Two more Nato service members were killed in the Marjah operation on Wednesday, the alliance said in a statement without identifying them by nationality.

Their deaths brought to six Nato service members and one Afghan soldier who have been killed since the attack on Marjah, the hub of the Taleban's southern logistics and drug-smuggling network, began Saturday. About 40 insurgents have been killed, Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal said. During Wednesday's fighting, Marines and Afghan troops 'saw sustained but less frequent insurgent activity,' mostly small-scale attacks, Nato said in a statement. Nato spokesman Brigadier General Eric Tremblay told journalists in Brussels that most of the objectives have been achieved. 'Perhaps the pocket in the western side of Marjah still gives freedom of movement to the Taleban, but that is the extent of their movement,' he said. -- AP