Afghanistan offensive on Taliban in Helmand

February 13, 2010

Nato-led forces say they are making good progress hours after launching the biggest offensive in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

There were clashes as more than 15,000 US, UK and Afghan troops swept into the Helmand areas of Marjah and Nad Ali in a bid to secure government control.

The Afghan Army said 70% of Marjah had been cleared, while a UK commander said 11 Taliban bases had been captured.

A Taliban commander reportedly said his men were retreating to spare civilians.

Operation Moshtarak - which means “together” in the local Dari language - is being led by the US Marine Corps, supported by 4,000 British troops, with Canadians, Danes and Estonians.

‘Heavily booby-trapped’

The BBC’s Frank Gardner, with Nato forces at Kandahar airbase, says the test of the operation’s success will not be on the battlefield.

AT THE SCENE

Ian Pannell
BBC News, Nad Ali

The operation so far has gone better than the commanders on the ground had even hoped. They met very little resistance, they managed to come into this village and entered the compound where they wanted to set up base and things were fairly quiet.

In the last couple of hours the Taliban has responded, there has been an exchange of gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade fired over the base. We know there are perhaps five or six positions where the Taliban are operating.

What’s noteworthy here is the lack of population. The vast majority of villagers seem to have left the area to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between the Taliban and Nato troops.

It all depends on whether the coalition can hold the ground and bring lasting security and good governance to the population of central Helmand.

Hours after the attack was launched, three US soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device, Nato said, although it is not yet clear if they were part of Operation Moshtarak.

Five members of the Taliban were killed and two arrested in the opening stages of the assault, Afghan officials said.

Troops have been advancing carefully, picking their way through poppy fields, trying not to set off Taliban bombs.

Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal told a news conference the Taliban had “heavily booby-trapped the area”, reports Reuters.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who approved Operation Moshtarak, warned troops to avoid civilian casualties, and called on Taliban fighters to lay down their weapons.

Nato says Marjah is home to the biggest community under insurgent control in the south.

‘On the hop’

It was estimated there were between 400 and 1,000 militants based there before Operation Moshtarak was launched.

MARJAH: ‘TALIBAN STRONGHOLD’

Town and district about 40km (25 miles) south-west of Lashkar Gah

Lies in Helmand’s ‘Green Zone’ - an irrigated area of lush vegetation and farmland

Last remaining major Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand

Area considered a centre for assembling roadside bombs

Key supply centre for opium poppies - lucrative revenue source for Taliban

Estimates of Taliban numbers range up to 1,000

Population of Marjah town put at 80,000 while the whole of Marjah district is thought to have 125,000

Marjah has also long been regarded as a linchpin of the lucrative network for smuggling opium - the raw ingredient used to make heroin - harvested from Helmand’s poppy fields.

Nato Commander Maj Gen Nick Carter told the BBC that 11 objectives had already been taken and the offensive had been “so far extremely successful”.

“Indeed it would appear that we’ve caught the insurgents on the hop - he appears to be completely dislocated,” he said.

The offensive began with waves of helicopters ferrying US Marines into Marjah in the early hours of Saturday.

British troops then flew into Nad Ali district, to the north, followed by tanks and combat units.

Jets and helicopters fired missiles at Taliban tunnels, bunkers and other defensive positions.

There have been firefights and sporadic insurgent rocket fire.

‘Civilians in danger’

Mullah Mohammed - a Taliban commander in Marjah - told ABC News that his men were pulling back to spare any civilian casualties.

“We found civilians in massive danger so we decided to go backward just to save villagers lives,” he said. His claim cannot be verified.

Nato had distributed leaflets in the Marjah area warning of the planned offensive in a bid to limit civilian casualties.

Earlier this week British forces began a “softening up” process, taking part in a Nato ground and air offensive on insurgent positions.

For the first time Afghan forces have been at the forefront of planning and will share the burden of the fighting.

More than 1,900 Afghan police will provide support after the initial military operations end, and a large team of Afghan administrators has been assembled.

The operation is part of an effort to secure a 320-km (200-mile) horseshoe-shaped string of towns that runs along the Helmand River, through Kandahar and on to the Pakistani border.

Afghanistan offensive on Taliban in Helmand

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