WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: SO FAR SO GOOD IN MARJAH
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The thousands of troops working to oust Taliban militants from Marjah met pockets of resistance, but NATO says the push called the biggest offensive of the war is getting off to a good start. It is nice to see us finally kicking some Taliban ass.
“So far, so good,” said British military spokesman Maj. Gen. Gordon Messenger, who told reporters in London that commanders are “very pleased” with the siege in the Marjah region. He said key objectives such as securing key bridges and roads were being reached with “minimal interference” by Taliban militants unable to put up a “coherent response.”
“The Taliban appear confused and disoriented,” Messenger said, but tempered his optimism with the reminder that the operation is not yet done.
Earlier, a NATO spokeswoman said Operation Moshtarak was going according to plan. Flight Commander Wendy Wheadon said NATO forces have already begun working with local leaders to begin the transition of authority as troops move into Marjah, a place thought to be the last Taliban stronghold in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand.
Wheadon said forces have discovered large numbers of explosives, such as 155 mm artillery shells, 10 improvised explosive devices and bullets from a Soviet-made anti- aircraft weapon. They also discovered two kilograms of heroin.
By early Saturday morning, at least one military company said it gained a small foothold in the town of Marjah, a place thought to be the last Taliban stronghold in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand. But as the company of about 200 U.S. Marines moved to increase its foothold in Marjah, insurgents fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at them.
At the same time, in another part of Marjah, soldiers were also in a fierce gun battle with insurgents, military officials said. (Related: Why Marjah, why now?)
Five Taliban fighters were killed and eight were arrested in the early hours of the operation, said a spokesman for the Helmand province governor, Dawoud Ahmadi.
Military officials said the offensive got under way at 2 a.m. (4:30 p.m. ET Friday). In an effort to establish a foothold, troops launched air assaults followed by a ground offensive in rough terrain, a region dotted with canals. The fighting started quickly and there have been isolated firefights and attacks on troops. There have been sounds of sporadic gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.
I pray, in my way, for the safety of America’s brave warriors and those of its allies. I also “pray” that they are successful in killing as many of the enemy as they can find, and I hope they find every damn one of them!
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I have heard those words before Lazer. Unfortunately there is no alcohol in Afghanistan. None. Zip. Nada. Nill. Now that would REALLY suck!!
Using a very old Marine incentive that we rarely, if ever, hear any more we just need to say, “C’mon you Devil Dogs. there’s plenty of beer and lotsa whores where we are going. Get these asshole outa the way.” A bit crude and the Marines today probably won’t respond as well because they are smarter then us. But back then that was enough for us to use the scorched earth policy to get to the other side.
Holte the tactic of warn first then attack has been used in many conflicts. It helps minimize civilian casualties. Generally the enemy is either too stubborn or too proud to head for the hills. They prepare but we second guess their preparations and are hopefully successful.
Thanks for your great comments Infidel. I agree that we are partly responsible for the outcome of the USSR/Afghanistan war, and that the Taliban are basically the scum of the earth. I also am very happy that we have a president who carefully considers his actions. We do have a great CIC.
When I visited Kiev in 2007, one of the things I saw there that had a powerful effect on me was a memorial to the Soviet troops who were killed in Afghanistan during the earlier Soviet invasion there. Some proportion of those deaths was due to the military aid given by the United States to the Islamists who were fighting against them. It’s understandable that this seemed like a good idea at the time — the USSR was the adversary back then, and we could not have anticipated that a jihadist take-over of Afghanistan would eventually pave the way for an attack on New York.
Nevertheless, there is civilized blood on our hands from that earlier conflict, and we did play a role in helping Afghanistan be taken over by fanatics more extreme than the very worst of the Dominionist fundamentalists we so dread here at home, and far more bloodthirsty.
I don’t know whether we can make Afghanistan a viable state, but we can at least help the Afghan people get rid of the barbarism that an earlier US government did, after all, play some role in helping to gain power over them.
I also “pray” that they are successful in killing as many of the enemy as they can find, and I hope they find every damn one of them!
MadMike, while I am obviously not a person who prays, words cannot express how much I agree with this! The Taliban are among the vilest people on the planet, oppressors of women, mass murderers of gays and religious dissidents, harborers and protectors of al-Qâ’idah while they plotted 9/11 and after, destroyers of everything, even statues, that did not fit into their bigoted and bloodthirsty world-view. They turned Afghanistan into a place that made the Dark Ages look enlightened by comparison, and they aspire to do the same to Pakistan and beyond. Few of the enemies that our military has faced in its history have been so worthy of killing as these.
Afghanistan is a terribly intractable situation but at least now we have a President who makes decisions on the basis of careful thought and hard information instead of gut feeling and delusions about God wanting him to do things. Our troops now have leadership worthy of them.
They have been announcing this attack for weeks, every Taliban with IQ over 60 would have left town with most of the population. Perhaps that was part of the plan, tell them we’re coming, they leave, we occupy, tell them we coming were they ran to and just run them down or chase them into a corner or down a rat hole.
HillB: It’s our blood after all my friend. My children and yours. I am glad you stopped by ….
Greatly appreciate this post and your statement, Mike!
“As I write this, and as you respond, America’s blood is at stake, as well as the blood of our allies. There is plenty of time to debate the right or wrong of it, in the political arena, but right now I support our troops. I hope you do too. This is about war now, not politics, and we are going to win this fight.”
Oso: This post is not a political statement. It is about war. As I write this, and as you respond, America’s blood is at stake, as well as the blood of our allies. There is plenty of time to debate the right or wrong of it, in the political arena, but right now I support our troops. I hope you do too. This is about war now, not politics, and we are going to win this fight.
The Taliban were religious fundamentalists who intervened against the Northern Alliance’s excesses but were philosophically unequipped to run a nation and committed their own excesses.
They had no involvement with 9/11 and little more than geographic involvement with the small number of AQ in their country, using some volunteers as shock troops in their civil war.
Our invasion and attempt to install a compliant regime has led to an inevitable and wholly predictable nationalist fervor to drive out the foreigners. We apply Taliban to every member of the insurgency, be it drug dealers, Northern Alliance who have changed sides and even the original Salafi Taliban members.
They are terrorists only in the dictionary sense;One who kills civilians for a political purpose. The same definition applies to our efforts there.
We will continue to randomly kill people until we can no longer afford it. America loves to have a war going on somewhere in the world. Even Clinton had his war in the Balkans.
Afghanistan is not our enemy. Our foreign policy is our enemy, to us as well as those smaller nations without viable militaries that we invade to keep the American public distracted from our steady decline into a third world economy.
Will, I know where you are coming from my friend. This post, however, is an update on war today. I also don’t know what happens when we leave, but today, on this day, we are there and we need to kill as many of those fuckers as we can before they kill us.
I do think this is the right war, as wars go, but if we are still there in two years I may just change my mind. Thanks as always for stopping by. You are part of the family.
I’m hoping for the best, Mike. I trust that I’ve made that clear with my past comments as well. I’m just not sure what the end-game is with this. I mean, sure, we can succeed in repressing violence for as long as we’re there (theoretically, at least). But, yes, what about after we leave? I just can’t see any viable nation state succeeding over there. Again, I’m hoping that I’m wrong.