Afghanistan Operation "Mushtarak" in Marjah - Following News & Links Thread!

Maybe someone can explain why we decided to give the Taliban months of advance warning? It was worse than advertising that the circus is coming to town! Makes no sense at all.

reply to post by mishigas


Army needs an army to fight a war - change in tactics - "Come out and play Talibans, or loose your face!"

Every new idea is worth to try, and in this long Afghanistan quaqmire, coalition needs some results and also media attention to achieve a reason for being there. Showing that enemy has army, and not just their blown suicide bombers or IEDs, there is a reason shown for homefront and crowds.

For regular GI - I see there is no sense in this at all - but just well prepared enemy in front of them, and casualties both sides.

Elitistic politics is always paid by regular blood.

In Marjah: 'Everyone is hiding. My family are very scared'

The populous Taliban stronghold of Marjah has, say residents, become a ghost town. Shops are shuttered, streets deserted and most inhabitants are hiding inside their mud-brick houses wondering when their "day of doom" will come.

Ghafar Jan, a 32-year-old farm labourer, said powerful explosions had cast a pall of dust and smoke over the area, and that the "lightning" of rockets was visible from his house.

www.independent.co.uk...

FIRST HAIL FROM VICTORY...

'The Taleban are defeated,' said the general. Now the battle is on to win support of the villagers

"The Taleban have been defeated," said General Moheedin Ghori, the bullish Afghan commander whose troops fought alongside British and French forces in Nad-e Ali. "There is sporadic resistance, but it's just their withdrawal."

Officials said most of the foreign fighters had fled ahead of the heavily publicised assault on Nad-e Ali and Marjah, while many of the Afghan militants had laid down their arms, "or just left them at home".

news.scotsman.com...

- Why is little too hard to believe this optimistic Afghan general?

[edit on 14-2-2010 by JanusFIN]

reply to post by JanusFIN



The General is a fool if he thinks we believe that. The advanced warnings gave the prime targets plenty of time to make their escape, leaving behind the small group of hardcore 'martyrs' willing to die for the money or the cause.

Afghanistan flag flies over Taliban capital

Shortly after dawn a soldier of the Afghan National Army climbed up a 60ft disused crane from which the white flag of the Taliban had flown as a defiant symbol of their rule.

Using a knife borrowed from a British soldier Private Aziz Watandosd, cut down the flag and threw it to the small gathering of troops below.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

'Good start'

Operation Moshtarak began before dawn on Saturday when more than 15,000 troops flew into central Helmand. US forces, led by 4,000 Marines, are focusing on Marjah, while 4,000 British troops are in Nad Ali. A large Afghan force, as well as Canadians, Danes and Estonians, is also involved.

Three Isaf deaths related to Operation Moshtarak have been confirmed.

On Saturday, a British soldier, Lance Sergeant David Greenhalgh of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, died in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack, while a US soldier was killed by gunfire in Marjah.

On Sunday, another service member was killed in an IED attack. At least 20 Taliban fighters were killed and another 11 detained on Saturday, an Afghan commander said.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, said the assault had got "off to a good start". "It's actually very difficult to predict [the end]. We have from a planning standpoint talked about a few weeks, but I don't know that," he added.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Marjah Offensive Puts Afghan Civilians On The Front Line

NATO and Afghan forces are pushing deep into the town of Marjah -- a major smuggling hub and Taliban stronghold -- on the third day of a large-scale offensive in Helmand Province.

Residents are optimistic that Afghan and NATO troops will bring them security. But locals are also warning troops to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties in their zeal to take control of the Taliban stronghold.

"We want to see you, as you are claiming, bring stability to our region,” said one unidentified farmer, speaking to British troops. “We are happy [at the offensive], but we expect you not to harm us or pain and humiliate us. We expect this and will accept this and it will make us happy."

www.rferl.org...

US, Afghan forces push deeper into Marjah

Insurgent sniper teams battled U.S. Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah, as several major gunbattles erupted across the town Monday on the third day of a major offensive to reclaim the extremist southern heartland.

Multiple firefights in different locations were taxing the ability of the coalition forces to provide enough air support to help cover the advance as NATO forces forged deeper through town, moving through suspected insurgent neighborhoods, the U.S. Marines said.

In the northern part of Marjah, an armored column came under fire from at least three separate sniper teams, slowing down its progress. One of the teams came within 154 feet (50 meters) and started firing.

Troops braced for the estimated 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) march to link up with U.S. and Afghan troops who had been airdropped into town. A day earlier, small squads of Taliban snipers initiated several gunbattles throughout the day in an attempt to draw coalition forces into a larger ambush.

www.wyomingnews.com...

Ive been going through news sources in the UK and Afghanistan and Afghanistan paint a different picture of whats happening there!
US news talk about a success.
It seems however, that nearly as many civilians were killed as Taliban.
Whats the point if your killing the people your supposed to be protecting.
Either the forces are incompetent or they're racist.

reply to post by GW8UK


A Himar rocket strike this week resulted in 12 civilian deaths. Gen. McChrystal called for a halt to the use of Himars after the accident.

This offensive has been advertised for months now. WHY WERE CIVILIANS STILL IN THE AREA??? They have to accept responsibility for the deaths, imo.

And McChrystal is doing the wrong thing by tying one hand behind the troops' backs as they engage the Taliban.:shk:

Whats the point if your killing the people your supposed to be protecting.

What the dickens were they doing in the line of fire?

Either the forces are incompetent or they're racist.

What a ridiculous statement.


[edit on 15-2-2010 by mishigas]

Not so fast generals...

US fears being bogged down in Marjah as snipers hit major offensive

US Marines and Afghan troops were making slow progress as they came under attack from snipers on the third day of a major offensive to seize the Taleban’s stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

Multiple firefights broke out in different areas in and around Marjah, the last militant stronghold in the country’s most violent province, Helmand. The US troops leading Operation Moshtarak — “Togetherness” — advanced only 500 yards today. Marine units twice tried to capture the town’s central bazaar, only to be pushed back.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

Taliban step up attacks in besieged Afghan town

MARJAH, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters stepped up counterattacks Monday against Marines and Afghan soldiers in the militant stronghold of Marjah, slowing the allied advance to a crawl despite Afghan government claims that the insurgents are broken and on the run.

Taliban fighters appeared to be slipping under cover of darkness into compounds already deemed free of weapons and explosives, then opening fire on the Marines from behind U.S. lines.

www.star-telegram.com...

U.S. Marine Walks Away From Shot to Helmet in Afghanistan

online.wsj.com...

UK unleashes dreaded 65 ton 'Swiss army knife' tank against Afghan Taliban for first time

Nad-e-Ali District (Afghanistan), Feb.16 (ANI): Angry British troops have used the mighty IED-busting Trojan tank against the Taliban in Nad-e-Ali district on Monday during Operation Moshtarak, The Sun reports.

The Trojan is the "Swiss army knife" of the forces - built to cut through the harshest of terrain with its monster tool kit. A plough protects the crew as it clears a path through a minefield. It can rip devices out the ground.

Explosions bounce off the Trojan's 65-ton bulk. It also carries thermal imaging kit, low-light vision cameras, long-range magnifying devices, a remote-control machine gun and anti-tank weapons.

The Trojan does in seconds what may take the Counter-IED Taskforce days - at huge risk.

news.oneindia.in...

27 Taliban killed in Helmand offensive

As the joint Afghan-NATO assault against Taliban bastion in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province entered its third day Monday, more than three-dozen people have been killed and hundreds of families fled home for safer places. Twenty-seven militants and 12 civilians have been killed and the troops have secured major parts of the restive Marjah and Nad Ali districts, according to officials. NATO-led troops while pounding militants' hideout fired two rockets on Sunday, which missed the target and hit a house killing 12 civilians.

www.nation.com.pk...

reply to post by mishigas


You clearly have some issues with morallity if you think the american's are doing the right thing by bombing a civillian area. Its supposadly a taliban stronghold, but by the number of taliban dead i doubt it.

Its a discusting mascarade. And how were the locals warned???
Shorely to launch an offensive of taliban they wouldnt have gone around advertising it to everyone.

You should close your eyes and have a think about everything thats going on there.
Drugs, Oil and holy land. And you think that we're over there to protect freedom and individual rights and liberties of civillians from corrupt governments and terrorists.
Ignorance is bliss

Eye witness: a terrifying first day of combat with Taleban in Marjah

We clung to the steep sides of the canal trying to find some safe ground halfway up the bank. A rocketpropelled grenade came in just over our heads and exploded against the wall behind us. The Marines either side of me were hit with shrapnel. One, Doc Morrison, took a chunk of metal in his leg that severed an artery. The helicopter called to evacuate him came under machinegun and rocket fire.

Captain Ryan Sparks, Bravo’s commander and a veteran of some of the US military’s bloodiest days in Iraq, later said that the 12 hours of fighting on that first day in Marjah were “at least as intense as anything I experienced in Haditha and Fallujah”.

www.timesonline.co.uk...