US, Afghan troops begin attack on Taliban-held town

February 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) — Helicopter-borne U.S. Marines and Afghan troops swooped down on the Taliban-held town of Marjah before dawn today, launching a long-expected attack to re- establish government control and undermine support for the militants in their southern heartland.

The attack on Marjah climaxed the biggest joint Afghan- international offensive of the war and is the largest combat operation since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 U.S. reinforcements here last December to turn the tide of the war.

Marine commanders say they expect between 400 and 1,000 insurgents to be holed-up inside this southern Afghan town of 80,000 people in Helmand province, including more than 100 foreign fighters. Marjah is the biggest southern town under Taliban control and the linchpin of the militants’ logistical and opium- smuggling network.

“The first wave of choppers has landed inside Marjah. The operation has begun,” said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, which was at the forefront of the attack.

Several hundred U.S. Marines and some Afghan troops were in the first wave of troops, flying over minefields the militants are believed to have planted around the town, 360 miles southwest of Kabul.

The operation, code-named “Moshtarak,” or Together, was described as the biggest joint offensive of the Afghan war. Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, the commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, says 15,000 troops were involved, including some 7,500 troops fighting in Marjah and British forces to the north in the district of Nad Ali.

The helicopter assault was preceded by illumination flares that were fired over the town about 2 a.m. In the pitch darkness of a moonless night, the roar of helicopters could be heard overhead, flying in assault troops from multiple locations.

The white flash of Hellfire and Tow missiles could be seen exploding over the town as flares illuminated the darkness to help assault troops spot targets in the town.

Once the town is secured, NATO hopes to rush in aid and restore public services in a bid to win support among the estimated 125,000 people who live in Marjah and surrounding villages. The Afghans’ ability to restore those services is crucial to the success of the operation and to preventing the Taliban from returning.

Tribal elders have pleaded for NATO to finish the operation quickly and spare civilians — an appeal that offers some hope the townspeople will cooperate with Afghan and international forces once the Taliban are gone.

At the Pentagon, a senior U.S. official said Afghan president Hamid Karzai had signed off on the attack.

On the eve of the attack, cars and trucks jammed the main road out of Marjah on Friday as hundreds of civilians defied militant orders and fled the area ahead of the assault. For weeks, U.S. commanders had signaled their intention to attack Marjah in hopes that civilians would seek shelter.

Residents told The Associated Press by telephone this week that Taliban fighters were preventing them from leaving, warning the roads were planted with land mines to slow the NATO advance.

Still, many people fled anyway for the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, 20 miles to the northeast. They told journalists they had to leave quickly and secretly to avoid recrimination from Taliban commanders.