WP: "Afghanistan offensive is key test of Obama's strategy" plus a view from Marines on the ground

[Pirate Smile]

Afghanistan offensive is key test of Obama's strategy


Marines find temporary shelter in an abandoned dwelling in Marja, a Taliban stronghold. (Andrea Bruce/the Washington Post)

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 15, 2010

The largest military offensive of the eight-year war in Afghanistan, launched this weekend in southwestern Helmand province, is a crucial test for President Obama's strategy of more troops, more civilians and more money.
In an acknowledgment of past mistakes, administration officials have emphasized that for the first time, U.S. and NATO forces are outnumbered by thousands of Afghan soldiers fighting alongside them. Unlike previous offensives, in which territory won from insurgents was later abandoned, the troops plan to clear the Taliban stronghold of Marja and hold it for as long as it takes to install a functioning local security system and government.

Large numbers of Afghan and international civilians have been marshaled to move into the district once the fighting is over, and development projects are funded and ready for implementation.
"What's important about this operation is that it is the first major operation in which we will demonstrate, I think successfully, that the new elements of the strategy -- which combine not only security operations but economic reform and good governance at the local and regional level with a much more visible presence of Afghan forces -- will take place," Obama's national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, said on "Fox News Sunday."

White House officials said Obama was closely monitoring the situation, with regular updates and briefings from Jones and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. The officials said Obama spoke with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, on Sunday morning, but declined to provide details of the conversation.

-snip-
U.S. troops have been told to end the "night raids," in which they barged into Afghan homes in search of insurgents, and to send in Afghan forces first. Meetings were held with tribal leaders from the Marja region before the well-advertised offensive began, and news reports from the battlefield indicate that commanders are wary of disrupting the lives of civilians.
Although U.S. forces have already called in several airstrikes against dug-in Taliban concentrations, the operation favors ground movements in an attempt to avoid civilian casualties. McChrystal was quick to issue a public apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday after two U.S. artillery rockets missed their target by a nearly a fifth of a mile, killing 12 civilians.
In a statement issued by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the multinational coalition McChrystal leads, he said use of the rocket system was being suspended pending a review of the incident.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/14/AR2010021404169.html?hpid=topnews

The Marines move on Marja: A perilous slog against Afghanistan's Taliban

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 15, 2010

MARJA, AFGHANISTAN -- For the Marines of Charlie Company's 3rd Platoon, Sunday's mission was simple enough: Head west for a little more than a mile to link up with Alpha Company in preparation for a mission to secure the few ramshackle government buildings in this farming community.
It would take nine hours to walk that distance, a journey that would reveal the danger and complexity of the Marines' effort to wrest control of Marja from the Taliban.

-snip-
In perhaps the most audacious Taliban attack since the operation commenced, a group of insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades attempted to storm a temporary base used by Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment on Sunday evening. The grenade launch was followed by three men attempting to rush into the compound. The Marines presumed the men to be suicide bombers and threw grenades at them, killing all three.
The attack on the Bravo patrol base was one of several attempts to overrun Marine positions Sunday. All were repelled.

-snip-
The plan was that the Afghan soldiers would knock on doors whenever possible. In this counterinsurgency operation, the Marines have been told that the people of Marja are the prize. Don't alienate them. Don't knock down doors unnecessarily.
A few minutes later, another shot echoed across the poppy field. Word quickly made it down the line: A Marine ahead fired on a menacing dog while searching a housing compound.
Before anyone could find the owner to make amends, a rattle of gunfire came toward the Marines from the west. The Marines and the Afghan soldiers returned fire with M4 carbines and belt-fed machine guns.

Eighteen minutes later, what sounded like a lawn-mower engine could be heard overhead. A small, unarmed drone, launched from a nearby base, circled above. It revealed what the Marines couldn't immediately see from the field: Three insurgents, one of whom was carrying a walkie-talkie, had been killed.
As a squad from the 3rd Platoon moved gingerly forward, unsure if there were more insurgents unseen by the drone, Worth received a report over his radio: The Marines from Bravo had just hoisted the Afghan flag at a bazaar to the northwest.
Each of his companies have been given Afghan flags, he said. He made it clear that the Stars and Stripes was not to be raised in Marja.

-snip-
By then it was safe to approach the owner of the dog, a middle-aged farmer named Jawad Wardak, who was standing in front of his spacious mud-walled house with five young men who he said were his sons and nephews. There were large stacks of dried poppy plants on his driveway, and his fields were filled with small poppy saplings, which will grow to harvest height by spring.
"I'm very sorry about your dog," Worth said. "Hopefully we haven't done any damage to your home."
Wardak shrugged. "It's no problem," he said.
Worth didn't want to pass up the opportunity to make a friend. "We're bringing the government of Afghanistan back here," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/14/AR2010021401783.html?sid=ST2010021402119&sub=AR

[Pirate Smile]

1. kick

[jeanpalmer]

2. We have a $1.4 trillion deficit

and a public debt that is approaching 100% of GDP. And people living in tents. And we're wasting our money on this desructive exhibition. To prove what? This isn't so much a military exercise, as it is an exercise in self-delusion. But twelve innocent civilians have already been killed in this operation. Time to shut it down and bring home the troops.

[Clio the Leo]

3. Interesting read. Thank you. NT

[Pirate Smile]

4. kick

[Phx_Dem]

5. Good luck and God bless NATO troops!

[Cha]

6. Thanks, this is something that they

think is important to do for the safety of the Planet..so I am wishing them a good mission and a safe return.