CBCNews
Thousands of coalition soldiers are advancing Saturday into the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.
Mines and booby traps were the main problems the troops encountered. Two coalition soldiers and 20 Taliban fighters had been killed, coalition spokesmen said.
U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers led the attack on Marjah, while seven Canadian helicopters delivered 1,100 British and Afghan soldiers in the Nad Ali region north of Marjah. It was the biggest air assault that Canada has ever done, Canadian helicopter commander Lt.-Col. Jeff Smyth said.
Three Canadian Chinook helicopters, escorted by four Canadian Griffons, delivered the soldiers safely, said Col. Christian Drouin, commanding officer of the Canadian air force in Afghanistan.
"We had no resistance whatsoever."
The Marjah operation was also going "without a hitch," said Maj.-Gen. Nick Carter, NATO commander of forces in southern Afghanistan.
However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone that, "all of Marjah is still under Taliban control."
And despite the coalition confidence, the British Ministry of Defence said one soldier was killed in an explosion north of Marjah. A NATO soldier from an undisclosed country was shot dead, a coalition spokesman said.
A handful of Canadian troops are involved in Operation Moshtarak, which means "together" in Dari. The 34 soldiers are mentoring Afghan troops.
The attack, involving about 15,000 coalition soldiers, is intended to drive an estimated 1,000 Taliban out of the main locations they hold in Helmand province. It's part of a new NATO strategy designed to win Afghans over by protecting civilians.
Once the coalition controls Marjah, a city of 80,000, the plan is to deliver aid and restore public services.
International development workers and Afghan officials will enter the city as soon as it is secure. Government teams have plans for new schools, clinics and mosques.
In an incident unrelated to Operation Moshtarak, three U.S. soldiers were killed by a bomb, NATO said.
BBC
Thousands of US, UK and Afghan troops are trying to consolidate gains on the second day of a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
They are advancing carefully, clearing countless improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the Helmand districts of Marjah and Nad Ali.
Some sustained gun battles have been reported and many buildings have been booby-trapped by the insurgents.
The attack is the first major test of President Obama's new Afghan strategy.
The International Red Cross has set up a first-aid post in Marjah, which it says has already treated several dozen residents injured in the fighting.
Obama briefing
Nato officers and Afghan troops are holding shuras, or meetings, with tribal leaders, and plan to bring in hundreds of Afghan police officers in the coming days to help secure the captured areas. US-led Operation Moshtarak - meaning "together" in the Dari language - is the biggest attack since the Taliban fell in 2001.
It began before dawn on Saturday when more than 15,000 troops flew into central Helmand.
American forces, led by 4,000 US marines, are focusing on Marjah, while 4,000 British troops target Nad Ali district.
A large Afghan force, as well as Canadians, Danes and Estonians are also involved.
At least 20 Taliban fighters have been killed and another 11 detained, an Afghan commander said.
On Saturday, a British soldier, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, died in a bomb blast in Nad Ali, while a US soldier was killed by gun fire.
President Barack Obama is said to be keeping a close eye on the operation, and will be briefed by the top US commander in Afghanistan on Sunday.
'Riddled with mines'
Nato's aim is to secure Marjah and its surrounding area, which has a population of about 125,000, as soon as possible and then to bring in aid and public services. As well as having been a Taliban stronghold, Marjah has also long been regarded as a linchpin of the lucrative network for smuggling opium - the raw ingredient used to make heroin.
The BBC's Frank Gardner, at Nato's Kandahar headquarters, says RAF Tornado jets and drones have spent the last few days scanning for freshly laid IEDs.
But the insurgents, too, have had months to prepare for this long-planned offensive and Nato commanders say the area is riddled with hundreds of mines.
US Marine commander Brig Gen Larry Nicholson told AFP news his forces in Marjah had "blown up a lot of IEDs" and come up against "a lot of sniper fire".
Using metal detectors and sniffer dogs, the Marines have been painstakingly clearing hidden bombs from houses, one by one.
"Basically, if you hear the boom, it's good. It means you're still alive," US Marine L/Corp Justin Hennes told AP news agency.
'Publicity stunt'
US forces also said they had discovered freshly abandoned sniper positions, booby-trapped with grenades. A pharmacist told the Marines the entrance to his shop had been booby-trapped, and he could not get into his home, reports AP.
Correspondents say most of the Taliban appear to have scattered in the face of overwhelming force, possibly waiting to regroup and stage attacks later.
But on Sunday, a flag-raising ceremony by Nato-led forces in Marjah drew gunfire, reports Reuters news agency.
"I have always dreamed of raising the Afghanistan flag over Marjah," Afghan soldier Almast Khan told Reuters.
The BBC's Frank Gardner says the real challenge is still to come: building lasting security for the residents of central Helmand.
The operation's success or failure depends on whether it can be swiftly followed by security and good governance.
This is something that has been all too rare in the troubled south of the country, says our correspondent.
A Taliban commander, named as Mullah Abdul Rezaq Akhund, reportedly labelled the operation a public relations stunt.
"Their main objective from all this propaganda is to give some prestige to the defeated military commander General Stanley McChrystal," he said in a statement e-mailed to AFP news agency.
Telegraph
Gen Sir Richard Dannatt: Operation Moshtarak will be worth the cost
Operation Moshtarak, the largest operation in Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown, will be worth the human costs that will be suffered, says General Sir Richard Dannatt.
So, after being well trailed for the past week, Operation Moshtarak, has begun in central Helmand. We are told that it is the largest operation of the current campaign in southern Afghanistan, but the principal question on everyone’s mind is: “Will it work?”, and then there is the very proper question: “Will it be worth the inevitable human cost?” The answer to both those questions has to be “Yes”, and I will explain why.
If the central rationale for our presence in Afghanistan is to establish a sufficiently functioning state, stable enough to deny Islamist extremists safe haven from which to prepare and launch attacks on the West in pursuit of their wider agenda to recreate the historic Islamic Caliphate through force rather than conviction, then central Helmand is key. The area around Marja and Nad-e-Ali in central Helmand is the heart of the opium poppy industry, the revenue of which significantly sustains the insurgency through lining the peoples’ pockets while under the protection of the Taliban.
The Taliban know that they must control the wealth and people of central Helmand, as the key to controlling Kandahar with its clear axis of influence to controlling Kabul. So central Helmand is vital ground and its people, to use a military expression, are the centre of gravity. If we win the hearts and minds of the people of central Helmand, we can turn this campaign.
Gen Stanley McChrystal, the overall Nato commander in Afghanistan, has been very clear from the moment that he took over, that this campaign is about people and not about winning bloody battles against the Taliban. He has given clear direction that all operations should be designed with the security and safety of the Afghan population as the top priority. Winning their hearts and minds is the objective, not blowing their hearts many yards away from their minds.
Within this direction, Maj Gen Nick Carter, the British commander in southern Afghanistan, has devised Operation Moshtarak.
What we have heard over the past week in advance of the launch of the operation was part of the shaping phase. Those civilians who were not committed Taliban were being given the chance to leave the area before fighting began, while 300 local representatives met at Governor Gulab Mangal’s request to debate whether they wanted the Taliban to stay or for the security forces to throw them out.
But while these Afghans might look like biblical characters, they are shrewd. The calculation was simple. “Do I accept the offer of wheat seed and free fertilisers this year and trust the government to protect me, or do I go on growing poppies and hope that the Taliban will prevent my crops being eradicated?”
The Shura voted to give the government a chance, with the plea that in any fighting, heavy weapons were not used. So in an elementary way, the Taliban have been voted out of central Helmand, the task of the British, American and Afghan forces is to show them the door, whether killed or captured is up to them, but in any event, rejected by the people and totally discredited.
The British Task Force commander in central Helmand, Brig James Cowan, the veteran Commanding Officer of The Black Watch in Iraq, has set out his intentions very publicly. He will clear the area of Taliban, then hold it in sufficient strength so that the people are confident in the government’s ability to protect them and thereby lay the foundations for the civilian agencies to build a better future for the people. Replacing poppies with wheat, saffron or pomegranate is a start, but the significance is to build an economy based on legal activity, not criminal endeavour. Good governance, fair policing and the rule of law, albeit based on tribal laws and customs, will only come about if the core of the society is based on a legal economy.
The Afghan-led, coalition-supported, follow-up phases to this operation will be the decisive ones. “Moshtarak” means “together”, and that is the theme, increasingly Afghan-led.
On the military side, last year there were only about 5,000 coalition troops in Helmand, this year there are between 30,000 to 40,000 British, American and Afghan soldiers.
Many of us have long argued for enough boots on the ground to hold the areas we have cleared. Whose feet were in those boots was not the issue, but there had to be enough of them. Today we have gone significantly in the right direction. And the quality of the Afghan national army is growing steadily.
The key to enduring success now is the civilian effort to build a better life for the people. They are asking for it, we are committed to giving it to them. It is in their interest, and it is in our interest too. Our soldiers know this and that is why their focus is clear, their morale is high and we need to continue to give them our full support.
WSJ
Two Allied Deaths in Marjah Highlight Risks
KABUL—U.S., Afghan and British forces cleared mined streets and booby-trapped buildings as they pressed deeper into a Taliban stronghold Sunday, the risks they faced underscored by the deaths of two allied troopers in the offensive's first 24 hours.
The deaths of one U.S. Marine and a British soldier were the first reported allied casualties in the assault on the southern town of Marjah, the largest offensive in Afghanistan since 2001 and a major test of President Barack Obama's strategy to stabilize the country and overcome the Taliban. Afghan officials say at least 27 Taliban fighters have also been killed.
With nearly 10,000 allied forces now in action against an estimated 400 to 1,000 Taliban fighters, commanders say the biggest threat in Marjah comes not from militant fire but from the hundreds of roadside bombs and booby traps the insurgents are believed to have laid in the town and surrounding villages and farms.
The slain British soldier was killed when one of the hidden bombs hit his vehicle Saturday, the operation's first day, the British Defense Ministry said in a statement. A U.S. Marine was also killed Saturday in a separate incident, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Afghanistan task force said. No further details of either incident were immediately available.
Marjah is one of the last Taliban bastions in the Helmand River Valley; its importance to the insurgency increased over the past summer after allied forces pushed into neighboring areas. Until the operation began shortly after midnight Saturday, Marjah was believed to be a major base for launching attacks and smuggling opium.
NATO commanders say securing Marjah will move them a step closer to bringing under Afghan government control an arc of territory that is home to more than 80% of Southern Afghanistan's population and is the Taliban's spiritual and physical heartland.
But unlike in previous operations, NATO forces are to remain in Marjah for months to come and help Afghan authorities quickly set up a credible local administration. The idea is to keep the Taliban from simply moving back in, as has happened after past offensives.
To make the strategy work, Afghan and NATO officials aggressively courted the people of Marjah in advance of the offensive, which they advertised for weeks before its start.
Allied forces have since the start of the attack held two meetings, known as shuras, in the area; one was held in Marjah itself, the other in another part of Nad Ali district, of which the town is a part, NATO said in a statement. More are planned in coming days, it said.
The Taliban insisted it still controlled much of Marjah, and that its fighters had killed 67 foreign soldiers and Marines while losing only six of their men. "They are lying, they haven't captured any areas. Our mujihadeen are resisting," said Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, a senior Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan. He invited foreign reporters to visit Taliban-controlled areas.
NATO and Afghan commanders say fighting on the ground has so far been relatively light, with only scattered resistance. But they cautioned that the Taliban could simply be looking for opportunities to strike, and that heavier fighting may lie ahead.
WSJ
IEDs: The Big Marjah Challenge
PASHMUL, Afghanistan—American soldiers in southern Afghanistan rarely catch more than a faint glimpse of the Taliban fighters they battle: most casualties are inflicted by the blinding, anonymous, flash of home-made bombs buried in the dirt.
So, on a recent evening, excitement bubbled over when the watch post of an isolated American outpost here spotted 16 FAMs – military speak for "fighting-age males" – moving in darkness through nearby grape fields. The commander, Lt. Mark Morrison, called in aircraft to find out whether the men were engaged in an activity that can warrant an instant death sentence: digging.
Improvised explosive devices, usually made of fertilizer, are the Afghan insurgents' great force equalizer, constraining the American troops' ability to move and sometimes destroying even the most sophisticated U.S. armored vehicles.
Hundreds of these IEDs are believed to be scattered in the irrigated farmland around the southern Afghan town of Marjah, presenting the greatest single obstacle to a massive coalition offensive that began there Saturday morning.
U.S. commanders consider buried bombs and other booby traps to be the biggest danger to the Marjah assault force, and they predicted the belt of landmines on the outskirts of town would be the biggest ever breached by North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops. They expected roads, homes and fields to be seeded with the weapons, and they planned an enormous engineering effort to combat the explosives.
What this entails could be seen on patrol with U.S. soldiers taking on several hundred Taliban fighters here in the Zhari district, astride the fertile crescent that stretches between Marjah and Kandahar, the country's second-largest city.
"It's just laden with IEDs out there," says Lt. Col. Reik Andersen, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 12th Infantry regiment that's responsible for this area. "The insurgents can't stand toe to toe with us in a gunfight – but they can blow the hell out of us with IEDs."
At the Pashmul outpost, established late last year, spotting the suspected IED team in action presented a rare opportunity for payback. Within minutes, the plane's camera started to beam a grainy feed into the outpost. Four small black spots – human figures – were seen separating from the larger group and milling in the middle of a path.
"No doubt about it. It's a road. They're digging," shouted the platoon sergeant, Samuel Frantz.
"If they're digging on that road, they're getting killed," Lt. Morrison yelled back.
The fact that the unit walked on that path just a few days earlier conformed to known Taliban tactics of burying IEDs along patrol routes. There were no other Afghans near the site, and therefore no risk of collateral damage. The lieutenant authorized an air strike.
Several soldiers crowded around to watch rockets slam into the four dots on the screen. Seconds later came the sound of explosions. "Losers!" went the cheer. The plane kept in its sights one figure that darted into the field.
Lt. Morrison debated for minutes whether the escapee was wounded, and therefore a noncombatant who must be spared under the laws of war, or an insurgent trying to hide, and therefore a legitimate target. A pilot ended the discussion by reporting that the fugitive was in fact a horse.
Later at night, another aircraft reported several persons removing "a barrel-like object" – a human torso, or maybe the IED itself – from the strike site.
They were not attacked. Sgt. Frantz told the soldier who first spotted the presumed insurgents that his vigilance will be taken into account upcoming disciplinary hearings for smoking pot – a common offense in an area where the prohibited plant sprouts everywhere.
The next morning, soldiers from another platoon trekked towards the strike site, wading thigh-deep through muddy irrigation canals to avoid possible IEDs under bridges. At first sight of the approaching Americans, the few local villagers – expecting a firefight -- began streaming out, burka-clad women and children in tow.
One boy stayed put, staring at the troops from a field. Suspecting him of being a spotter for the Taliban, the platoon leader, Lt. Graham Williams, ordered him to come closer. Zmaray, a skinny 13-year-old, explained he was trying to find his father.
Lt. Williams asked the boy whether he would walk with the troops to point the way to the next village.
"No," a terrified Zmaray replied. "Why not?" the lieutenant asked, and immediately answered for the child himself: "Cuz I like keeping my legs, that's why."
Patrols in this area are frequently ambushed – one a few days later walked into a four-hour firefight that ended only after a series of rocket strikes and aircraft strafing runs on suspected Taliban positions. But there was no shooting today.
Eight brothers inhabited the compound near which rockets hit the previous night. The eldest, Hajji Mama Jan, greeted Lt. Williams by saying: "You've injured my horse."
The horse, cuts on its back treated with violet disinfectant, munched on grass nearby. The dirt road was still stained with blood in several places, signs of digging in its middle – activity that could not have gone on unnoticed from inside the compound, one of its walls partially blown off by a missile.
"Somebody died here last night," Lt. Williams said.
"I swear, nobody was here," Mr. Jan replied, looking the lieutenant straight in the eye. "Just the horse got hurt." The American gave him a wad of Afghan money, roughly $80, as compensation, and said: "You are safe here. We'll protect you."
Back at the base in the afternoon, Lt. Williams shrugged. "Of course they are lying," he said. "They're afraid of the Taliban, and they're not afraid of us."