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Afghanistan
Taliban launch operation 'Iron Net' against US Marines
2009-07-07
Operation Iron Net? That sounds remarkably stiff, heavy, and ineffective. Perhaps it's more frightening in the original Pashtun.
The Taliban said on Monday they have launched a guerrilla operation to thwart a major assault by the newly-deployed US Marines on their Helmand strongholds. Operation Foladi Jal would teach the Marines "a lesson". Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from an unknown location.
The brave Lion of Islam phones it in from his secret hiding place, under his youngest wife's bed.
"You guys go ahead, I'll be there in a minute."
"Where you going, Mahmoud?"
Um .. I gotta make a phone call."
About 4,000 Marines poured into the southern province on Thursday in an operation called Khanjar (dagger) to tackle the Taliban in the region. "In response to Operation Khanjar by the invading forces, we have launched the operation," Ahmadi said. The operation would include improvised bomb explosions and "hit-and-run guerrilla attacks", Ahmadi said. "We will not engage them in front battles. We would rather hit them by mines and guerrilla attacks," he said.
Happy hunting, Marine Lions and Lionesses!
Posted by:Fred

#4  If the Marines can't shoot back all the Taliban have to do is dress like women and fire away.
Posted by: airandee   2009-07-07 18:02  

#3  It's not an assault. It's a op aimed at attrition and wear-down.

The good thing is that there are a lot of 'lessons learned' from Iraq. The problems are that the Iraqis were a lot more sophisticated in some ways vis a vis IEDs, and the Taliban are using some tactics developed both indigenously and by Pakistanis and others.

There's gonna be a learning curve.
Posted by: Pappy   2009-07-07 14:53  

#2  Spoken by someone who's never faced Marines in combat. I'm sure they'll do their best, and I'm sure the Marines will kill them like flies.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2009-07-07 12:41  

#1  Teaching Marines "a lesson" sounds like a real bad idea. I don't thinks theses guys can pass an IQ test.
Posted by: whatadeal   2009-07-07 10:02  

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