U.S. Marines launch Afghan operation

[GAP]

U.S. Marines launch Afghan operation
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OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan's most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years.

U.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit leave their outpost in southern Afghanistan Monday.

Several hundred Marines, many of them veterans of the conflict in Iraq, pushed into the town of Garmser in predawn light in an operation to drive out militants, stretching NATO's presence into an area littered with poppy fields and classified as Taliban territory.

U.S. commanders say Taliban fighters have been expecting an assault and have been setting up improvised explosive devices in response. It wasn't known how much resistance the Marines would face in Garmser, where the British have a small base on the town's edge but whose main marketplace is closed because of the Taliban threat.

The assault in Helmand province -- backed by U.S. artillery in the desert and fighter aircraft in the sky -- is the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived last month from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for a seven-month deployment. Another 1,200 Marines arrived to train Afghan police.

Maj. Tom Clinton, the U.S. commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British outpost 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Garmser, said the Taliban had undoubtedly seen the Marines moving into the area in recent days.

But he said the fact that the Marines were assaulting the town by helicopter and were moving through by foot was likely a surprise.

"There's all kinds of reports of (Taliban) commanders telling their guys to grab their stuff and get out there" to fight, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Massachusetts. "It's no secret they know we're here. It's just a question of when and where" an assault would happen.
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[Dog Walker]

Here is an update on the Marines in Helmand province.

http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/pressreleases/2008/05-may/pr080510-186.html

ISAF Marines continue to gain ground in Helmand
KABUL, Afghanistan – ISAF Marines continue to experience success in Garmsir district, Helmand province, since they first launched their operation Apr. 28.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU) has discovered and destroyed several fortified enemy positions and nine weapons caches containing variations of mines, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and IED-making materials. They have also identified and control-detonated four improvised explosive devices.
“The insurgents are finding that every time they engage with the Marines, they lose,” Colonel Peter Petronzio, 24th MEU commander. “The Marines are gaining ground every day and securing more of the routes through the district. The support we have received from our allied partners has contributed to our many successes thus far.”

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080514/world/afghanistan_unrest_us_taliban_1

KABUL (AFP) - US Marines have faced "continuous resistance" from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to clear out a key militant stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the force said Wednesday.
US Marines and British troops under NATO command launched the operation late April in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre.
"We're seeing a continuous resistance," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's second-in-command in Afghanistan.
"They are consistently engaging us," he said, but added that "the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them."
Hayes refused to comment on militant casualties from the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures, adding Garmser was a "planning, staging and logistic hub" for the rebels.
But he did not dismiss a statement Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al-Qaeda-linked "foreign fighters," had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.
Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.
"We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that," he said.
Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.
Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north.
There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help NATO forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.
A separate US-led coalition including special forces has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.

 

[tomahawk6]

From the Marine Times.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_marineafghan_051408/

24th MEU lingers in Afghan town




By Jason Straziuso - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 14, 2008 14:37:06 EDT

GARMSER, Afghanistan — Marines who once planned to be in this southern Afghan town for just a few days are extending their mission by several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.

The change in plans shows that despite a record number of international troops in the country, forces are still spread thin and U.S. commanders must make tough choices about where to deploy them.

Manpower problems are acute in Helmand, the largest and probably the most dangerous province in Afghanistan, where the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived late last month to open a route to move troops to its southern reaches near the border with Pakistan.

Britain has about 7,500 soldiers in the province but does not have enough troops to move south of Garmser, a district still largely held by the Taliban and bursting with opium poppy fields.

The 2,400-strong Marine unit met stiff resistance as they moved in. Between 100 and 400 Taliban fighters moved into the Garmser area as the poppy harvest got underway, apparently to defend their interests in the lucrative drug trade.

Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. said the Marines would be in Garmser for several more weeks. It means the Marines might not take part in an operation that was planned in another southern province this month.

“The number of fighters that stood and fought is kind of surprising to me, but obviously they’re fighting for something,” Clinton said, alluding to poppies. “They’re flowing in, guys are going south and picking up arms. We have an opportunity to really clear them out, cripple them, so I think we’re exploiting the success we’re finding.”

Helmand is the hub of opium production in Afghanistan, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the global supply of this raw material of heroin.

The Taliban are believed to derive tens of millions of dollars from the trade.

Still, the Marines have been careful not to alienate residents by destroying the poppy fields that poor farmers rely on for income. Commanders say their goal is to rid the region of Taliban fighters so the Afghan government can move in and tackle the drug problem.

The prospects of that happening appear remote. Although thousands of acres of poppy fields are eradicated annually in Afghanistan, it is only a small fraction of the total area sown. Year after year, production has soared and security has deteriorated.

There are now almost 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. has 33,000, the most since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. U.S. forces have mostly operated in the east of the country, rather than the south, where NATO has struggled to find nations willing to fight the increasingly bloody insurgency.

Army Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said he needs three more brigades — two for combat and one to train Afghan soldiers, roughly 7,500 to 10,000 additional soldiers.

When the Marines eventually leave Garmser, any gains the 24th has made could be quickly erased unless other forces from NATO or the Afghan government move in.

“We can’t be a permanent 24/7 presence. We don’t have enough men to stay here,” said Staff Sgt. Darrell Penyak, 29, of Grove City, Ohio. “We would need the [Afghan National Army] to move in, and right now the way we’re fighting, there’s no way the ANA can come in. They couldn’t handle it.”

Afghanistan’s army and police forces are steadily growing, but are still not big — or skilled — enough to protect much of the country. Spokesmen for both forces said they were not aware of plans to send forces to Garmser.
Col. Nick Borton, commander of British forces in the southern part of Helmand, recently visited U.S. positions in Garmser, where he told the Americans he’d be happy if they stayed on.

“If they’re here for only a short time, we can’t build very much off that,” he said. “Their presence for a few days doesn’t really help us.”

A representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. government aid arm, told Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson that “people lose faith if you pull out.”

The next day, at a meeting of Marines and Afghan elders, the bearded, turban-wearing men told Marine Capt. Charles O’Neill that the two sides could “join together” to fight the Taliban. “When you protect us, we will be able to protect you,” the leader of the elders said.

Despite uncertainties over how secure Garmser, O’Neill liked what he heard.

“We have something here we can really exploit, if we can get some Afghan national police here,” he said. “The Marines can definitely do the job, but we’re not a permanent presence. With their own people providing their own security they can really get something done.”

 

[vonGarvin]

God Bless the USMC.  It looks as though they are fighting the good fight!  Semper Fi!