Marine Offensive in Helmand

[tomahawk6]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/06/01/5739081-cp.html

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S. marines clawed their way south along the Helmand River valley over the weekend in an ongoing push that the commander of the battle-hardened assault force hopes is easing the pressure on the Canadians in neighbouring Kandahar.

The level of fighting "has stayed fairly consistent" since they began arriving in southern Afghanistan earlier this spring, but "the last three days have probably been the most intense as we move further south," said Col. Pete Petronzio, who leads the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

"My marines are doing a great job."

The buoyant tone is also reflected in British ranks where a senior commander declared Sunday that the Taliban were on the run and "licking their wounds" in Helmand province, long a cauldron of militant activity.

Brig.-Gen. Gordon Messenger told the British media that insurgents had been tactically routed and intelligence estimates suggested they were now retrenching in Farah province, on the northwest border of Helmand.

Canadian commanders were also cautiously optimistic with a report Saturday of the death of a mid-level Taliban group commander - Mullah Tohr Agha - in a combined Canadian-Afghan operation in the troublesome Zhari district last week.

Petronzio also cautioned that his 2,200 troops were still very much in the thick of the fight and the area around Gamsir, where marines have been operating, was still being "cleared" of militants, who have engaged U.S. troops in a series of vicious firefights and laced the area with booby traps and roadside bombs.

He dismissed reports from aid agencies that claimed thousands of people had been displaced by the fighting, saying the marines had noticed some families fleeing north after being driven from their homes by insurgents.

The concentration of force in the winding river valley - a major supply and infiltration route from Pakistan - has given the Canadians the freedom to focus on the most volatile Taliban hotbeds in Kandahar, namely the Zhari and Panjwaii districts west of the provincial capital.

It has also eased pressure on the British further up river, where almost 8,000 troops have fought repeated bloody campaigns over two summers to stamp out militants, particularly around the strategically important Kajaki dam, a semi-active hydro-electric facility.

Petronzio described the marine action as "attempting to put a stopper in the bottle as far south as we can."

It is a messy, dangerous job because Garmsir, where the British were under almost constant fire before the marines arrived, is "an incredibly tough place to be."

Although fighting season is still young, the violence in Kandahar province has appeared lighter than previous years.

"I hope that is a direct positive effect" of the marine presence, Petronzio added. "And I hope with time we will see more direct, larger regional effect than just localized ones in Garmsir."

The 47-year-old marine colonel, who served in Iraq and Kosovo, was effusive in his praise for Canadian troops and was eager to dispel the notion that his unit was there to save to the day for NATO.

"I really strongly believe that we didn't come to anyone's rescue," he told Canadian reporters in a wide-ranging and candid interview.

"We're a bunch of guys that came here to do a job. And as professionals in the profession of arms we are no different than the Canadians, than the Brits, than the Dutch. We just came to help."

The Canadians, he said, were the ones doing the rescuing early in April when a marine convoy struck a huge roadside bomb near Forward Operating Base Wilson in the Zhari district.

Two marines 1st Sgt. Luke Mercardante, 35, and Cpl. Kyle Wilks, 24, were killed and two seriously wounded in the April 15 incident, where Canadian troops rushed to provide assistance and care for the casualties - something Canadian commanders have never discussed.

The marine deployment is scheduled to last seven months in total and Petronzio wouldn't speculate on whether it would be extended.

He said their mission is classic counter-insurgency, which he described as clear, hold and build.

But Petronzio conceded the marines are best suited for the two phases.

"We may not be uniquely suited to the build," he said.

"So there will probably have to be someone who does that for a living, you know, to kind'a come in behind us."

 

[geo]

Any engagement where the TB and possibly AQ are forced to stand and fight (and lose) is a good thing.

Having the US Marines, the Brits AND the Canadians all pushing the insurgents at the same time will force them to make mistakes.... and standing up to us + attemting to fight us - mano y mano = one real big mistake by the taliban.... which we would be fools not to capitalize on.  Let's just hope we don't have Blue on Blue OR blue on civilians incidents.

 

[tomahawk6]

Looks like the operation is becoming quite the success story.

http://www.battlefieldtourist.com/content/

British troops moved into areas on the western flank of US Marines fighting in Garmser, allowing the Marines to continue their push south in a running battle with Taliban forces that the US commander on the ground describes as, “the most intense (fighting)”.  Since the fighting began, Marines have been involved in more than 100 firefights.

The Hammer

Lt. Col. Pete Petronzio, commanding officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force, says the fighting his combat element has seen is ”fairly consistent” since a combined US/British/Afghan force retook the district center, Garmser in an operation dubbed, “Asada Wosa”.  The four day battle in early May was spearheaded by 1st Battalion, Sixth Marines and killing an estimated 150 fighters, many of them foreign.  Three Marines died in May:  Two, including the acting Command Sgt. Major, died in an IED attack on their convoy en route to Helmand Province.  A Marine sniper was also killed May 19th when he was hit by small arms fire.

The Marines, expecting to be in the area for just a few weeks before turning security over to the British and Afghans, are now pushing through a farming section of the district that runs some 40 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide.  More than 100 named villages are in the area of operations with hundreds of other smaller settlements spread throughout.

Coalition intelligence estimates that as many as 500 Taliban fighters are operating in Garmser, with scores coming into the battle as reinforcements.

A senior British general’s assessment of the current situation is the most optimistic military news to come out of Helmand Province since the war began.  “We are not complacent and suggesting they (Taliban forces) do not have the capacity to regenerate, but they are very much off the frontfoot and licking their wounds.”, Brigadier Gordon Messenger told the London newspaper, The Guardian.  Messenger’s assessment is that the remaining Taliban fighters are preparing defenses in Bakwa district, Farah Province, which shares Helmand’s northwest border.

The Anvil

The second element of the 2008 Afghan “surge force” is 2nd Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, First Marine Division.  2/7 is tasked with helping to secure Farah Province by providing hands-on training to the Afghan police force that is notoriously undermanned, under trained and outgunned.  The Marines greatly bolster an often uncoordinated security force made up of US, Italian and Afghan Forces.

Dividends for the coalition are already paying off as more than 30 Taliban fighters were killed May 29th by coalition airstrikes in Bala Baluk district.  The fighters were surrounded by coalition forces after being tracked retreating from the offensive in Helmand Province.

100 more Taliban fighters were reported killed during a two-day operation in Bakwa district, just south of Bala Baluk and bordering Helmand Province.  A Special Forces soldier and an American Embedded Trainer (ETT) were also killed.

 

[tomahawk6]

Garmser is Quiet
http://www.battlefieldtourist.com/content/2008/06/06/garmser-grows-silent/

After 35 straight days of combat, Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are beginning to push ahead with civil affairs projects, as combat in Garmser has been on hold since June 1st.  The Marines report more than 150 engagements since the fighting began.

Already, Afghan National Army soldiers are taking up positions around the newly liberated areas that will soon be handed over to them, and British forces, once the US Marines move on.  When that will happen is still up in the air.

While fighting has slowed, the Marines are only about a third of the way through the more than a hundred villages that dot the Helmand River Valley, before the river veers west into neighboring Nimroz Province.  A desert wasteland of roughly 25 kilometers separates Pakistan from the Helmand River to the south.

The fighting forced more than 4000 families were displaced by the fighting, many who are beginning to return.  British and Afghan forces have also held a jirga (meeting) with some 200 returning refugees, including more than 100 of whom are described as village elders.  The Marines are also performing a census as they continue to move south.

The Fight for Garmser

In the early morning hours of April 28th, Marines assaulted Garmser district’s center, also called Garmser.  Three Marine companies flooded the area by ground and through the air.  The maneuver element of 24 MEU,  Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/6,  is made up of three infantry companies, two of which air assaulted into position southeast of Garmser as the battle unfolded.  British forces, already in place in the center of town, coordinated with the Marines during the attack.  Support for the force came from a British post about 10 miles west of Garmser called FOB Dwyer.  Scottish forces based at the Garmser Agriculture college were also involved in the fight.

In all, the Marines claim to have killed more than 150 Taliban fighters while uncovering nearly 50 weapons caches. One Marine, a scout/sniper, was also killed with four others wounded.

A majority of Taliban forces, which continualy reinforced their fighters during the battle, are believed to have fled northwest toward Farah Province and south across the “Desert of Death” toward villages and refugee camps on the Pakistani-side of the border.

Coalition forces in Farah have been attacking those retreating forces, killing more than a hundred in a handful of decisive engagements.  A U.S. Special Forces soldier was killed in that fighting.

What’s Next For 24 MEU?

When the Marines landed in Kandahar, they came with a laundry list of objectives, the first being Garmser.  The town was used by the Taliban for a number of strategic reasons:

First, it was a hub for terrorists coming across from Pakistan into Afghanistan.  Here they would be fitted with equipment, trained and then pressed into service against the British.  Once they got experience under their belts, the fighters would then be sent to other areas of the country.  While there are homegrown fighters among the ranks, foreigners, including Iranians, Arabs and a majority of Pakistanis make up their ranks.

Second, Garmser is a major hub for drug trafficing that supports the insurgency.  The area’s best roads snake away from Garmser toward Farah and then onto Iran.  This route is what the coalition believes is the main route that supplies Iran, and then Europe, with heroin from the world’s top-producing region.

Finally, the road that heads southeast out of Garmser, toward Pakistan, is the only viable road from the Helmand River Valley into Pakistan.  The coalition believes this road is the primary route that supplies the region’s insurgency with weapons and supllies.  This road is also the main focus of the Marines’ current assault. “This is an artery and we did not realize that when we squeezed that artery, it would have such an effect,” said First Lieutenant Mark Matzke, the executive officer of Charlie Company told the International Herald Tribune in late May.

What’s next for the Marines is now the big question. Since the 24th MEU relies on its air assets, which are based at Kandahar Air Field, operations will most likely remain in the Helmand, Kandahar, Oruzgan and Zabul Province areas. There is also a strong chance the Marines will find themselves in Farah Province where large areas of that province are under complete control of the Taliban. In particular, Bala Buluk and Bakwa districts are considered Taliban havens. Wherever the Marines end up, it is a near guarentee that it will wherever the largest concentration of Taliban are located in Regional Command South. The Marines are not in Afghanistan to hold ground, but are there to take as much ground as they can that can with the understanding it will be turned over to suffiicient, more permenant forces… providing those forces are available.

 

[FoverF]

The Marines are not in Afghanistan to hold ground, but are there to take as much ground as they can that can with the understanding it will be turned over to suffiicient, more permenant forces… providing those forces are available.

So the marines show up and conquer southern Afghanistan, which is great, but is ISAF/ANA/ANP going to be able to actually HOLD and PROTECT any more territory than it does now? I know I'm well outside my lane here, but I'm just worried that this "clear, hold, build" operation is going to end up as "clear, leave, ... , maybe come back and clear again later". 

Unless there's a fresh Bn of ANA or US Army or SOMEBODY waiting in the wings to fill this soon-to-be power vacuum, it looks to my uneducated eyes that all we're accomplishing here is killing a couple of hundred illiterate Pakistani teenagers. And I'm not so sure that's really a success in and of itself.

It's like making the bone-crushing check, but not getting puck possession.

I could be waaay off base here, but maybe it's better to leave a piece of ground in Taliban hands until we're ready to actually take control of it properly and stop Timmy from coming back. Every time we win a firefight and leave, we just PROVE to the locals exactly what the Taliban have been saying all along, that we're just transients, and it's the Taliban that are there to stay.

They may take a bad hit, but at the end of the play, they still have the puck.

Obviously I'm just a nO0b, so I'm not trying to write a policy paper or anything here, just thinking out loud.

In the meantime, go USMC! If you've decided to play the body, then put the ******* through the glass!

(from geo)
"standing up to us + attemting to fight us - mano y mano = one real big mistake by the taliban.... which we would be fools not to capitalize on"

This much I have to agree with though. To continue the metaphor, we have the bigger bodies, and if they want to play a physical game, we'd be fools not to let them.

 

[DT]

I did a lot of checking around and have written my thoughts about the post-Marine security situation here:
http://www.battlefieldtourist.com/content/2008/06/16/filling-the-void/

DT