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Marines, Taliban battle in Afghanistan poppy fields
U.S. Marines called in reinforcements Friday after meeting fierce resistance from the Taliban in the poppy fields of southern Afghanistan. Two dozen Marines arrived here from the military base at Kandahar Air Field to join hundreds already engaged in an offensive here in southern Helmand Province, a center of opium production and sanctuary for Taliban insurgents.Infantrymen from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit came under intense fire from rockets and rifles Friday, the fourth day of their mission in Helmand. Taliban leaders ordered their fighters to defend the ground at all costs, according to information intercepted by the Marines. Behind the Taliban's resolve: The Marine Operation Azada Wosa "Stay Free" in the local Pashto language threatens to disrupt the Taliban's lucrative trade in opium, says Maj. Tom Clinton Jr., executive officer of the Marines' infantry battalion. "We're sitting on their money," Clinton said at this military base near Garmsir, a Helmand market town seized earlier this week by the Marines. "If they don't have money, they can't buy weapons." Despite the intense fighting, the Marines had suffered no serious casualties by Friday evening. But they believe they have killed dozens of Taliban fighters. The expeditionary unit's 2,400 Marines arrived in Afghanistan from Camp Lejuene, N.C., several weeks ago to bolster a 40-nation NATO force struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban. Driven from power in Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces in 2001, the Taliban regrouped across the border in Pakistan and now are threatening the pro-U.S. Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Operation Azada Wosa, the Marines' first mission since arriving, is designed to clear the Taliban out of southern Helmand, where they have operated with impunity for more than a year, and to cut off their escape routes to Pakistan. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-03 |
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