Some People Are Going To Have To Face Reality

and accept that their lives are not going to be spent sitting at the grown-up table.

It's not a heart-warming story of successful counterinsurgency, it's the cold, hard reality that no matter how much hand-holding we do, the the Afghan army, government, and people are not ready for the responsibility of behaving with a level of competence that the US would accept as barely adequate.

As the Taliban ramped up its attacks in eastern Afghanistan’s Wardak province this spring, the Afghan soldiers here came to a painful conclusion: They were not ready to take on the fight alone. But it was too late — the Americans were not coming back.

The transition of Combat Outpost Conlon to Afghan control — marked by a flag-raising ceremony and a visit from top U.S. military brass — was an early milestone in the NATO drawdown that will continue through 2014.

But Afghan officials worry that the problems plaguing Conlon could be replicated across the country as the U.S. military hands over authority, leaving 200,000 Afghan soldiers without the equipment or wherewithal to defeat a resilient enemy.

“The Americans left too early, and they left without giving us what we need,” said Lt. Col. Hamidullah Kohdamany, the battalion commander.

U.S. officials say that after years of depending on Americans for tactical and logistical support, Afghan soldiers often struggle to adapt to a sudden surge in responsibility.

“They’ve just never had to rely on their own leaders. They’ve always had the Americans for a backstop,” said Lt. Col. Clint Cox, the head of the U.S. military advisory team that oversees Afghan units in Wardak province. “It’s going to take some time. It’s just like with children — sometimes it takes a hard lesson for them to learn.”

It's not that it's a hard lesson to learn. It seems to be a lesson they are incapable of learning. Their initial allegiances are not to the nation, or even their fellow soldiers. Their logistical tail breaks down because the convoy guys make a delivery to the tribal elders before they ever get to the combat outpost. They've got no electricity because the funds for providing them keep lining the pockets of kleptocrats in Kabul. The vehicles don't work because the spare parts are for sale in bazaars in Kandahar.

We have to quit applying US standards of competence to a nation that seems willfully proud of their inability to even attempt to learn them.

By: Brant

Current ISAF Placemat

It's dated for May, but it's the current one on the ISAF site. It's just been a while since we updated it.
Two interesting things:
1. They're no longer briefing the PRTs in the Placemat brief, but have replaced it with ANA locations and strengths. Clearly indicates the shift in what matters in the brief.
2. If the border areas on the AfPak border are the key problem area that we keep hearing about, why do so few border prov's have BN(+) contingents from ISAF, and there's 4 BNs in Helmand?

By: Brant

ANA Handover Imminent?

The US and NATO are looking to back away from frontline combat, to allow the ANA to take the lead.

The United States and its NATO allies are readying plans to pull away from the front lines in Afghanistan next year as President Barack Obama and fellow leaders try to show that the unpopular war is ending.
Top military and diplomatic officials from the U.S. and NATO allies met Wednesday to finalize the combat handover program and a strategy for world support to the weak Afghan government and fledgling military after 2014.
At the same time, the nations that have prosecuted a war against a Taliban-led insurgency are reassuring nervous Afghans they will not be left to fend for themselves. The competing messages aimed at different audiences are both challenged by current events in Afghanistan, where insurgents staged an impressive, coordinated attack last weekend that struck at the heart of the U.S.-backed government and international enclave in Kabul while Taliban leaders boycott peace talks the U.S. sees as the key to a safe exit.

By: Brant

Excellent, Concise Analysis of Weekend Fighting in Kabul

The mil-blog "It's Always Sunny in Kabul" has a nice 5-point wrap-up of the Kabul attacks.

1. This was a success for the ANSF.
2. This was not an independent ANSF success.
3. Tactically, a Taliban (or whoever) defeat.
4. In the perception war, a Taliban (or whoever) win.
5. We really want it to be the Haqqani.

The discussion behind each point makes it well worth the read. The Twitter comments captured over there are entertaining, too.

By: Brant

Taliban Attack Kabul, Get Asses Kicked, Claim Victory

I mean, after all, we did actually, y'know, launch an attack, so that's kind of something.

A brazen, 18-hour Taliban attack on the Afghan capital ended early Monday when insurgents who had holed up overnight in two buildings were overcome by heavy gunfire from Afghan-led forces and pre-dawn air assaults from U.S.-led coalition helicopters.
Kabul residents awoke Monday to a second day of loud explosions and the crackle of gunfire. As darkness turned to dawn, Afghan-led forces fired one rocket-propelled grenade after another into a building in the center of the city where insurgents began their attack Sunday.
Fighting there and at the Afghan parliament building on the southwest side of the city ended just before 8 a.m.
Authorities said one police officer and at least 17 militants were killed in the multi-pronged attacks in Kabul and three eastern cities. The violence showed the Taliban and their allies are far from beaten and underscored the security challenge facing government forces as U.S. and NATO forces draw down. The majority of international combat troops are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

By: Brant

UK In Action: ANA RPG

A soldier with the Afghan National Army is pictured holding a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher during a joint operation with 3 Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan. Thsi image was a runner up in the portfolio category of the Army Photographic Competition 2011.

img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

UK In Action: ANA Allies, Too

Image shows a Sergeant of the Afghan National Army (ANA) standing in front of a recently raised Afghan flag in Sayedebad. Soldiers serving with Somme Company, the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, working jointly with the Afghan National Army, had seized compounds within the Taliban stronghold of Sayedebad in southern Afghanistan.

Image: UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

UK In Action: ANA Allies

Afghan soldier of the Afghan National Army (ANA) with an M16 assault rifle. Afghan security forces from the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan Border Police (ANBP) and ISAF soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Scots Guards acting as part of the Brigade Advisory Group have completed the a clearance operation around Lashkar Gah. This was the third operation of its kind that had been planned by the Afghan security forces with guidance from the Brigade Advisory Group.

Image: UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

Another ANA Shooting

An ANA soldier turned his gun on the American trainers at his base near Mazar-e-Sharif.

An Afghan soldier opened fire on U.S. civilian trainers at an army base in northern Afghanistan, killing two Americans before being shot dead, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

An argument started during a weapons-training exercise and the Afghan soldier turned his gun on the Americans on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement. Another Afghan soldier was killed in the resulting crossfire, and the shooter was later gunned down.

NATO previously said two Americans and two Afghan soldiers were killed by gunfire at a firing range outside Mazar-e-Sharif, but it did not provide details on how the incident occurred.

The shooter was a "group leader" — an Afghan soldier selected to train other soldiers on the base, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

By: Brant

ANA AWOL w/ BMWs! WTF?!

Fox has a report about those AWOL Afghans loose in Texas, and how they're getting help from the Reconquista underground.

A loose network of Mexican-American women, some of whom may be illegal immigrants, have been responsible for helping numerous Afghan military deserters go AWOL from an Air Force Base in Texas, FoxNews.com has learned.

Many of the Afghans, with the women's assistance, have made their way to Canada; the whereabouts of others remain unknown. Some of the men have been schooled by the women in how to move around the U.S. without any documentation.

The Afghan deserters refer to the women as "BMWs" — Big Mexican Women — and they often are the first step in the Afghans' journey from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to Canada, a diplomatic official told FoxNews.com. He requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly during an ongoing investigation by U.S. and international authorities into who helped the Afghans leave the Defense Language Institute’s English Language Center at Lackland.

The official's account was supported by a source at the Defense Language Institute (DLI), who also requested anonymity. Foreign soldiers attend DLI to learn English before they receive specialized military training at various installations in the U.S.

The Afghan military men usually meet the women at three nightclubs in San Antonio, according to the DLI source, who accompanied some of the men to these locations and has been privy to discussions among them about the establishments and the women. The nightclubs include two military hangouts — Tiffany’s Cocktails and Mirage, located outside Lackland's main gate — and Graham Central Station, a massive warehouse-like building in downtown San Antonio that houses "six nightclubs under one roof" that host a variety of theme nights. Photos on Graham Central's website show scantily clad women rolling around in what appears to be Jell-O.

In the past eight years, no fewer than 46 members of the Afghan military have gone absent without leave from DLI. As most Afghans on the base do not have cars, many of them depended on the women to pick them up at Lackland's back gate in the middle of the night and help them vanish.

h/t Gladius Maximus

By: Brant

Friendly Fire - The Other Way - in Afghanistan

Looks like a rogue Afghan soldier killed 3 British soldiers with an RPG. And now, it probably wasn't an accident.

A rogue Afghan soldier fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a group of international forces early Tuesday, killing three British troops, a military spokesman said. Four others were wounded.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai sent a letter of apology to the British government, and a joint NATO-Afghan team is investigating the incident in the southern province of Helmand.
The Afghan soldier used a shoulder-mounted launcher to fire a grenade at British soldiers at around 2 a.m. Tuesday, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zaher Azimi said.
The Afghan soldier escaped and is being sought, he said, adding that the motive of the attack was not yet clear.

By: Brant

Diplomacy Ahead of the Offensive

With the coming storm in Kandahar, the first wave - diplomacy - is underway. Since Kandahar is a higher-profile target than Marjah, the pre-fighting efforts are more high-profile, as well.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai joined the commander of U.S. forces in a meeting with tribal leaders Sunday in the volatile south, amid tensions over Karzai's recent scathing accusations of foreign interference in last year's elections.

Karzai and Gen. Stanley McChrystal flew together to the southern city of Kandahar, deep in the heartland of the Taliban insurgency, to meet with scores of tribal elders as part of efforts to build political support ahead of an expected U.S. and NATO push into the area.

Most of the 30,000 new troops promised by President Barack Obama will be headed to Kandahar city and the surrounding province.

Speaking to the gathering, known as a shura, held under tight security at the governor's compound, Karzai said he knew people in the area were fearful of the coming offensive.

He pledged to discuss tribal leaders' concerns with them and said the military action would be "an operation to bring security."

By: Brant

Germans in Afghanistan Beyond Useless; Now Counterproductive

The Germans have finally ventured off the FOB! And promptly shot a bunch of Afghan soldiers, on their own side.

German soldiers traveling to the scene of a deadly firefight with Taliban insurgents accidentally killed six Afghan troops, the Afghan military said Saturday. Three Germans died in the firefight with the militants.

The German central command confirmed Friday's friendly fire incident, but put the number of Afghan casualties at five. The deaths occurred amid heavy fighting between German troops and militants near the northern city Kunduz.

The German military said German soldiers who were rushing from Kunduz to the scene of the fighting on Friday afternoon encountered two civilian vehicles and demanded that they stop. When they did not, a German armored personnel carrier opened fire on them, the statement said. The vehicles were later found to have been transporting Afghan troops and an investigation is pending, the military added.

Shortly before, German troops had been attacked while on a bridge-building and mine-clearing mission southwest of Kunduz city, formerly a relatively calm area in the north that has lately seen a rising level of insurgent violence.

Thanks for trying to be relevant. Please go home now.

By: Brant

The Myth of Afghan Military Prowess

h/t to Brian, who pointed out this article at Pete's blog on CSW.

It turns out Afghan 'marksmen' aren't really all *that* and a bag of chips...

The recent Marine operations in and near Marja brought into sharp relief a fact that contradicts much of what people think they know about the Afghan war. It is this: Forget the fables. The current ranks of Afghan fighters are crowded with poor marksmen.

This simple statement is at odds with an oft-repeated legend of modern conflict, in which Afghan men are described, in clichés and accounts from yesteryear, as natural gunmen and accomplished shots. Everyone who has even faintly followed the history of war in Central Asia has heard the tales of Afghan men whose familiarity with firearms is such a part of their life experience that they can pick up most any weapon and immediately put it to effective work. The most exaggerated accounts are cartoonish, including tales of Afghan riflemen whose bullets can strike a lone sapling (I’ve even heard “blade of grass”) a hilltop away.

Without getting into an argument with the ghost of Rudyard Kipling, who was one of the early voices popularizing the wonders of Afghan riflery, an update is in order. This is because the sum of these descriptions does not match what is commonly observed in firefights today. These days, the opposite is more often the case. Poor marksmanship, even abysmally poor marksmanship, is a consistent trait among Afghan men. The description applies to Taliban and Afghan government units alike.

More at the link...

By: Brant

Clear Marjah? Check. Hold Marjah? In Progress. Build Marjah? Coming Right Up.

The latest phase of clear-hold-build is kicking off in Marjah.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai heard a litany of complaints Sunday from residents of Marjah, the town in the south that thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops just seized from the Taliban.
"Today, I'm hear to listen to you and hear your problems," Karzai told about 300 elders in a mosque in the central part of the town.
The elders didn't hold back.
They complained — sometimes shouting — about corruption among former Afghan government officials. They lamented how schools in Marjah were turned into military posts by international forces. They said shops were looted during the military offensive, and alleged that innocent civilians were detained by international forces.
Karzai's high-profile visit with NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal was part of NATO's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, which aims to rout insurgents from population centers, set up a credible and effective civilian government and rush in aid.
The government's task in Marjah is to convince residents of the town in Helmand province that the civilian government can provide them with a better life than the Taliban, which were routed during a three-week offensive. Marjah is the first major test of the NATO counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to try to reverse the Taliban's momentum.
In a message to The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Yasouf Ahmadi said insurgents fired mortars into Marjah's main intersection, but reporters traveling with Karzai and McChrystal did not witness any attack.
Karzai flew to Marjah and met the elders near the town's main bazaar. McChrystal joined him on the floor of the mosque, but did not speak during the nearly two-hour meeting.
The elders expressed outrage over house searches conducted by the military, and civilian casualties that occurred during the offensive. They told Karzai they want Afghan troops — not international forces or local policemen — searching houses. The elders — some gesturing to express their frustration — also said they wanted clinics and schools, and were losing patience with the central government's inability to provide services.
The president, who has been dubbed "the mayor of Kabul" by critics who claim his authority doesn't extend beyond the capital, said the central government intends to be more responsive to the people's needs.
"Are you against me or with me?" Karzai asked the elders. "Are you going to support me?"
The elders all raised their hands and shouted: "We are with you. We are supporting you."
Karzai promised to provide them security, open schools and start building roads and clinics.

By: Brant

Surge In Afghanistan? Focus on the Taliban!

Although the drug trade is a significant economic issue in Afghanistan, the focus of the current surge and the operations in Marjah has clearly been on the Taliban, with drug enforcement taking a back seat.

Even by Afghan standards, it was a startling find: An opium packaging workshop, buried under donkey dung and old hay in a stable that U.S. Marines turned into a patrol base in southern Afghanistan.
Two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employees nosing around the base found more than two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of opium, five large bags of poppy seeds, some 50 sickles, jugs and a large scale for measuring opium.
When the Marines leave the compound this week, though, they won't detain the old, bearded Afghan man suspected of owning the hidden cache. Instead, they'll hand him $600 in rent for using his place as a base.
It's a story that illustrates the shift in strategy to stall the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan. The more than 2-week-old military offensive on the town of Marjah — NATO's largest ever combined Afghan offensive — is a war on the Taliban, not drugs.
The opium workshop, on a compound near the entrance to the former Taliban-controlled town of Marjah, was found mostly out of luck and idleness.
"I just decided to start poking around," said Joe, who like his colleague, Jack, only went by his first name because they work for a DEA special intervention unit stationed in Afghanistan. "I've had plenty of time on my hands."
The two DEA agents, both bearded and wearing military fatigues, had been stuck on the compound in Helmand province for the past several days because every Marine convoy heading in and out of the area had struck a roadside bomb, knocking out armored vehicles and considerably delaying travel plans.
Their find went far beyond the staple signs of Marjah's booming opium business. In nearly every farmer's compound, Marines and the DEA have seen piles of dried poppy hay stacks, small doses of opium for local consumption and spent syringes.
"This cache shows that processing was taking place here on a pretty large scale," said Jack, pointing at the number of plastic spoons and ladles, indicating that up to 50 people could have been working here. Though quantities are uncertain, the makeshift asse

By: Brant

ANA Fights Well in Marjah

Apparently the ANA forces in Marjah acquitted themselves well. A "thank you" is certainly owed to their trainers.

The Afghan troops who supported the U.S. Marines in the battle to end Taliban control of this town in Helmand province showed marked improvement over last summer's performance in a similar fight but still need much more training, Marine commanders say.

Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the top Marine here, said that overall the Afghan battalions exceeded his expectations. Nicholson said he would give some Afghan units an A-minus or B-plus but that others, particularly those with soldiers fresh from basic training, would get a C-minus or D.

The lead Afghan commander, Brig. Gen. Mahayoodin Ghoori, agreed with Nicholson's assessment. "We fought hard, we beat the terrorists, but we need more training, especially more training with heavy weapons," Ghoori said.

The fight to oust the Taliban has been billed as a major test of the Afghan army's state of readiness to assume the lead role in providing security for the nation.

By: Brant

Afghan Government Exerts Control in Marjah

By raising the national flag over Marjah the Afghan government has symbolically exerted control over Marjah.

The Afghan government laid symbolic claim to the former Taliban stronghold of Marja with a formal flag-raising ceremony Thursday and installation of a new civilian administration.
Both Afghan and Western military officials, though, said the campaign to secure the southern town would go on for weeks.

As the flag-raising ceremony was taking place, scattered clashes continued and coalition forces proceeded with the painstaking work of finding and destroying the many bombs planted by insurgents.

U.S. Marines and British and Afghan troops launched the Marja assault on Feb. 13. With 15,000 troops taking part in combat and support operations spread over a wide area, it has been the largest single Western offensive since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, which toppled the Taliban government.

At Thursday's ceremony, hundreds of residents looked on as the red and green national flag was raised. The town's new civilian leader, Haji Zahir, promised to begin restoring basic government services, which Marja has lacked for at least two years.

Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the Marines' commander, attended the ceremony but did not speak. Western military officials said that it was a deliberate gesture, meant to emphasize that the offensive was designed to pave the way for Afghans to govern themselves.

The WSJ has another article that says the raising of the flag is a turning point in the surge campaign.

Afghan officials unfurled the country's green, red and black flag over the new government offices here, further evidence that U.S. and Afghan troops have reached a turning point in the offensive to reclaim this town from the Taliban.

By: Brant

Surge in Afghanistan? Send in the News!

Here are some stories on Afghanistan and Marjah from the past weekend...

Marjah is just the first step in the surge

The current offensive in Marjah is a critical stepping stone for what is likely the most important fight of the Afghan surge in the coming months: securing Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and the most important city in southern Afghanistan, according to defense officials and analysts.

The military is using the Marjah offensive to destroy an important Taliban haven, but also to test a strategy that emphasizes strong partnership with Afghan security forces and security for Afghan civilians. And some of the same techniques will be used in future operations, such as securing Kandahar.

Defense officials are understandably reluctant to speak in much depth about their plans, but there is no doubt that Kandahar will be the military's primary objective this year.

"Kandahar remains the prize for the Taliban," a senior military official said. "So if we do anything in the future, clearly this southern capital has to be in our plans somewhere."

Military officials argue they need to wrest Kandahar from the influence of the Taliban - or more precisely, help the Afghan government take control.

+++

The insurgents are fighting back in Marjah, as expected.

U.S. Marines pummeled insurgents with mortars, sniper fire and missiles as fighting intensified Thursday in two areas of the Taliban southern stronghold of Marjah, where U.S. and Afghan forces are facing stubborn resistance in an operation now in its sixth day.
Marines traded machine-gun fire after coming under attack by insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades. One Marine company attacked Taliban positions surrounding them at dawn.
Marines and Afghan troops continued to battle "stiff resistance" in different parts of town, a Marine spokesman said Thursday
"We're seeing more fortified positions. They're standing their ground, essentially," Lt. Josh Diddams said. "You don't know where you're going to get a little pop up of insurgents who are going to stay and fight."
The fighting in Marjah has followed a similar pattern over the past few days: relatively light in the morning with sniper fire intensifying through midday before subsiding at nightfall.
But there were also pockets of calm. Families trickled back and shops reopened in a northern part of town as a small measure of normalcy returned to parts of Marjah that are under Afghan and NATO control.
Their donkeys laden down with their belongings, several families could be seen coming back to their homes in a sign that some civilians believed the fighting is over in zones secured by NATO troops.
Several storekeepers reopened their shops in the bullet-riddled northern bazaar in the northern part of town, as customers lined up to buy goods for the first time in nearly a week.
This is the biggest offensive since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, and a test of President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the Taliban while protecting civilians.

+++

One of the key threats? Snipers.

In five days of fighting, the Taliban have shown a side not often seen in nearly a decade of American military action in Afghanistan: the use of snipers, both working alone and integrated into guerrilla-style ambushes.

Five Marines and two Afghan soldiers have been struck here in recent days by bullets fired at long range. That includes one Marine fatally shot and two others wounded in the opening hour of a four-hour clash on Wednesday, when a platoon with Company K of the Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, was ambushed while moving on foot across a barren expanse of flat ground between the clusters of low-slung mud buildings.

Almost every American and Afghan infantryman present has had frightening close calls. Some of the shooting has apparently been from Kalashnikov machine guns, the Marines say, mixed with sniper fire.

+++

As they flee Marjah, the Taliban are trying to return to towns from which they'd previously been forced.

Intelligence reports and a new flurry of roadside bombs suggest that Taliban fighters pushed from their sanctuary of Marja are trying to return to communities they fled last year, Marine commanders said Saturday.

As the Marja offensive continued, Marine Lt. Col. Matt Baker, commander of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, said that in recent days more roadside bombs have been found in the "green zone" of Nawa near the bazaar and the district government center.

Before Marines descended on sprawling Helmand province in southern Afghanistan last summer, Taliban fighters controlled Nawa, extorting money from merchants, closing its school and clinic and killing anyone who opposed them. They fled to nearby Marja after several weeks of sporadic gunfire aimed at the Marines.

At a community meeting Saturday in an outlying neighborhood of Nawa, Baker urged a group of more than 200 Afghan men to help the Marines keep the Taliban from reasserting its dominance in this agricultural area.

"The people need to be brave," Baker said. "The reality is that many of the insurgents from Marja will try to come to Nawa. We have to be a strong team and force them out."

+++

As a few Taliban pockets are mopped up, the transition to civilian work is beginning.

"We're still pushing through the city," said Lt. Josh Diddams, a Marine spokesman. Some of the remaining pockets of insurgents consist of only a handful of fighters, but at least 40 -- a relatively large concentration -- were thought to be holed up in the town's northwestern quarter, the Associated Press reported.

NATO said Sunday that another service member was killed in connection with the offensive, bringing the number of Western troop fatalities to 13. At least eight were Marines.

The battle of Marja is the largest coalition assault since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban. NATO commanders want to break the insurgents' grip on the town and its environs as part of a larger effort to establish government authority for the first time in years in a strategic swath of troubled Helmand province.

NATO said the operation remained "on track," although commanders acknowledged last week that clearing operations will take a month or more, somewhat longer than originally envisioned.

In coming days, however, the coalition expects the town will be secure enough to bring in a newly appointed Afghan governor, marking a symbolic shift away from the military confrontation and toward job creation, school openings and the setting up of other long-absent public services.

The military said in a statement that route clearance -- ridding the roads of one buried bomb after another -- was improving freedom of movement for local people. Many Marja residents have been pinned down in their homes for days by the fighting or have fled to other parts of the province.

Shops are slowly reopening as well, field commanders and local officials said.

Although the Marja offensive is concentrated in the district of Nad Ali, where the town is located, related operations are taking place across Helmand, the insurgency's traditional heartland.

NATO forces on Sunday reported the capture of a Taliban commander and another insurgent in a shootout in Kajaki district, in the east of Helmand, which left one of the suspects wounded. Both of the men arrested Friday were thought to have helped plant bombs and plan attacks.

By: Brant

Taliban Running Out Of Real Estate in Marjah

The Marines are pinning down the Taliban in Marjah, and the resistance is stiffening.

Marines and Afghan units converged Sunday on a dangerous western quarter of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, with NATO forces facing "determined resistance" as their assault on the southern town entered its second week.
Fighter jets, drones and attack helicopters hovered overhead, as Marine and Afghan companies moved on a 2-square-mile (5.2-sq. kilometer) area of the town where more than 40 insurgents have apparently holed up.
"They are squeezed," said Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, commander of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. "It looks like they want to stay and fight but they can always drop their weapons and slip away. That's the nature of this war."
Insurgents are putting up a "determined resistance" in various parts of Marjah, though the overall offensive is "on track," NATO said Sunday, eight days after thousands of Afghan and international forces launched their largest joint operation since the Taliban regime's ouster in 2001.
Late last week, Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, head of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, said he believed it would take at least 30 days to complete securing the Nad Ali district and Marjah in Helmand province, a hub for a lucrative opium trade that profits militants.
The Marjah operation is a major test of a new NATO strategy that stresses protecting civilians over routing insurgents as quickly as possible. It's also the first major ground operation since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan to curb the rise of the Taliban.

By: Brant