Allies Attack in Afghanistan

The lead article in today’s New York Times is titled, “Allies Attacking Big Taliban Haven in Afghan South.” The two-column banner headline describes the commencement of a military action designed to drive the Taliban out of Marja, a Taliban stronghold. While most of the Taliban leadership appears to have left in anticipation of the attack, a few hundred fighters remain behind, and the roads have been plentifully mined with bombs and IEDs.

The article describes the operation as different from previous actions because the NATO troops intend to minimize civilian casualties and install a provincial government as soon as the shooting stops. This strategy of conquer, hold and build was the purported reason for Obama’s decision to send an additional 30,000 troops.

The operation is the beginning of a campaign to destroy Taliban sanctuaries throughout the south of the Afghanistan, and interestingly, the article notes that the majority of the troops are Afghan. This was surprising to me in that I didn’t think there were that many locals troops who had been properly trained.

The troops entered the town in the middle of the night, and it remains to be seen how many casualties will be sustained in the next few days. Some critics have noted that the Taliban has no need to fight — they can just melt away and bide their time until the proposed U.S. pullout date.