CAMP LEATHERNECK,
— U.S. Marines and the Afghan army plan a substantial assault on
Taliban fighters in Marja, the last major community under Taliban
control in what had been a largely lawless area of the
“We are going to gain control,” Col. George “Slam” Amland told reporters. “We are going to alter the ecosystem considerably.”
Amland, deputy commander of Marine forces in southern
would not discuss the timing of the assault or how many thousands of
troops would be involved. But the attack, he said, would involve Marine
units that were part of the troop buildup authorized by
“This is a big leap for the government of
Marine and NATO leaders want sprawling Helmand
province to be a showpiece of the “clear, hold, build and transition”
counterinsurgency strategy, in which Taliban fighters are forced out of
a region and then a “civilian surge” begins to rebuild war-ravaged
communities and bolster confidence among Afghan villagers in their
provincial and national governments.
Whereas the Taliban once controlled nearly all communities of the
valley area, Amland predicted that by summer there would be no place
for the Taliban to hide except in mountainous regions with sparse
populations.
Although the Marines enjoy overwhelming superiority
in weaponry and numbers, the Taliban forces do have some tactical
advantages in rural Helmand. They have been dug in for months in and
around Marja, lacing all points of approach with IEDs, or improvised
explosive devices, which are the No. 1 killer of Western troops in
Taliban fighters are also intimately familiar with
the terrain and are often aided by locals, who help them either out of
fear or due to loyalty arising from clan and tribal ties with the
insurgents.
Some commanders from other nations within the NATO
alliance harbor doubts as to whether even a decisive victory by the
Marines at Marja would turn the tide of the insurgency in the south.
The south’s urban hub,
Though the military part of the Marja operation is
the most dramatic, the actions of U.S. civilian employees, including
those from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the
Agriculture Department, will be even more significant, Amland said. The
Afghan government is ready to install local officials to begin
reopening schools and clinics and polling residents about what they
want their government to do.
The goal, Amland said, is to spread to Marja the
“kinds of success” seen in other communities once the Taliban has been
ousted. In the Nawa district of the province, for example, the
marketplace reopened, irrigation-canal-clearing projects started, and a
local community council was established once the Taliban fled.
Starting in June, battalions of Marines swept into
Helmand, pushing Taliban fighters away from other communities.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, fled to Marja, which the Marines opted not
to enter. Last year, the Afghan army’s presence was limited and its
effectiveness doubtful.
Marja, with a population estimated at 85,000, has
been a “sore,” hampering U.S. and Afghan efforts in the province,
Amland said. From Marja, the Taliban has built roadside bombs, plotted
assassinations and controlled the illicit poppy crop, which provides 60
percent of the world’s heroin and funnels profits into the Taliban
insurgency.
Although the assault will be sizable in scale, Amland said, it is the kind of mission for which Marines continuously train.
“It’s nothing we haven’t done before,” he said. “It’s nothing we won’t do again in the future.”
—
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