Gunfire as some Taliban fight Marines in Marjah

[Adsos Letter]

Source: AP

MARJAH, Afghanistan – Squads of Marines and Afghan soldiers occupied a majority of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Sunday, but gunfire continued as pockets of militants dug in and fought, military officials said.

The second day of the largest offensive since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan was characterized by painstaking house searches and sporadic fighting.

The troops cleared out booby-trapped houses one by one, advancing slowly down streets littered with thousands of homemade bombs and mines. Shots continued to ring out in some neighborhoods.

"We're in the majority of the city at this point," said Lt. Josh Diddams, a Marine spokesman. He said the nature of the resistance has changed from the initial assault, with insurgents now holding ground in some neighborhoods.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100214/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

[dipsydoodle]

1. Broadly speaking this seems to be a complete waste of time

with the "Taliban" , whatever that means , having likely caught buses down to the next town ready for the next onslaught. They can repeat that almost ad finitum until they finish up back in Marjah in years to come.

[Kolesar]

2. It is not being run by Donald Rumsfeld

[Robb]

3. Afghanistan doesn't work quite that way. nt

[dipsydoodle]

4. I simply paraphrased

what had been said live on our TV news here in the UK by specialists on the subject. If you watch either BBC or Sky from your side be aware it will be sanitised - what you get on world service invariably is so.

I'm not disagreeing with you - you may well be correct. Only time will tell.

[bemildred]

5. I just wish they would stop calling it a "stronghold".

It's like anyplace they fight is a "stronghold" now. The word used to mean something besides "today's objective". It used to mean a place that was a.) easily defended and b.) actually defended with some energy. This is neither.

[dipsydoodle]

6. It looks to be somewhere between

what we'd call a village and what we might call a town I guess. Whatever - according to our news most of the "taliban" had already left. Not sure either why they don't just call them homies - which they are.

So much for hearts and minds :

Nato said in a statement: "Two rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launched at insurgents firing upon Afghan and forces impacted approximately 300 metres (980ft) off their intended target, killing 12 civilians."
>
The use of the the rocket system involved has been suspended pending a review.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8515141.stm