Marjah fight geared for civilian safety

[unhappycamper]

Afghan National Army soldiers take cover behind a berm as U.S. Marines with 1/3 Charlie Company battle insurgents northeast of Marjah on Feb. 11.


Marjah fight geared for civilian safety
By Jim Michaels - USA TODAY
Posted : Friday Feb 12, 2010 7:13:32 EST

KABUL — The battle for Marjah is to be a key test of the strategy of the U.S.-led coalition to hammer Taliban radicals and persuade Afghans to help keep the jihadists out, military officials say.

“The difference is this operation is structured to protect civilians,” Maj. Gen. Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry, said Thursday.

Marjah is a town of about 80,000 people in the Taliban’s southern stronghold of Helmand province. Under the Taliban’s control for months, Marjah is the subject of one of the largest military operations in Afghanistan since the invasion of the country in 2001.

Thousands of U.S. and Afghan troops have ringed the town. A U.S.-Afghan force led by the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade moved south from Lashkar Gah and linked up with Marines on the northern edge, closing off a possible escape route.

Two U.S. attack helicopters fired Hellfire missiles at a compound near Marjah where insurgents had fired at the advancing Americans.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/gns_marjah_civilians_021210a/



unhappycamper comment: It's nice to see all those obsolete cammis and M-16s being used. With my taxpayers dollars. :sarcasm:

[asdjrocky]

1. How 'bout we give peace a chance?

[queenjane]

2. What are they hoping for--a mass surrender to preclude the attack?

So far the military has given the Taliban everything except the precise date, time, and weather conditions necessary for the attack. My studies of military history emphasized how necessary the element of surprise was in executing (and winning) wars. Methinks this is just a PR campaign to placate civilians who think we're not actually doing anything in Afghanistan.