Posted on 06/02/2008 3:02:55 PM PDT by Salvavida
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents are fleeing south towards the Afghan border with Pakistan in the face of a U.S. Marines offensive in volatile Helmand province, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said on Monday.
U.S. Marines have been pushing south from the former Taliban stronghold of Garmsir in Helmand for a month in an operation meant to cut off insurgent infiltration routes from Pakistan.
"They have shown under some amount of pressure they flee to their sanctuaries," General Dan McNeill told a news conference.
"In the last two days we have had many reports ... that the insurgents after experiencing these several weeks of pressure below Garmsir are trying to flee to the south perhaps to go back to sanctuaries in another country," he said.
While McNeill was careful not to name any country, the only nation with which Helmand shares a border is Pakistan.
Mainly British troops have been battling the Taliban in Helmand since March 2006, capturing a string of towns in the fertile strip along the Helmand River cutting through the desert.
But Garmsir, the southernmost town of any size in Helmand, and its surrounding villages had previously evaded capture.
Washington dispatched 3,200 U.S. Marines to Afghanistan in March to bolster mainly British, Canadian and Dutch troops in southern Afghanistan after other NATO allies failed to come up with reinforcements.
REGIONAL DANGER
Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of harboring Taliban militants, giving the insurgent leadership a base from which to direct operations and allowing fighters to use Pakistani soil for training, rest and recuperation.
Pakistan admits there is a Taliban presence in its border regions beyond government control, but says it does not help the insurgents, pointing out hundreds of Pakistani troops have died fighting the militants.
NATO and Afghan officials have also cautioned Pakistan over peace talks with Pakistani Taliban insurgents, saying such truces free up the insurgents to launch more attacks into Afghanistan.
"If there are insurgencies in places not in Afghanistan, but very close by, and security forces are not taking them on, I don't think that bodes well for the whole region," said McNeill, who is to hand command of NATO's 50,000-strong International Security Assistance Force to another U.S. general on Tuesday.
"If there is no pressure on insurgents in sanctuaries out of the reach of security forces in this country then I think (insurgent) numbers are likely to grow," he said.
Still not mentioning any country by name, McNeill implied the danger of such truces was that they could backfire.
A suspected suicide car bomber killed six people and wounded 25 in the Pakistani capital on Monday.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Afghan forces backed by foreign troops killed 48 Taliban rebels in clashes and airstrikes in the northwest of Afghanistan on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.
Get Some 24th MEU!
Semper Fi you gung ho Leathernecks!
Semper Fi you gung ho Leathernecks!
Git ‘em
That is a heartwarming headline
Best dang military in the world.
I hope they do to the taliban what we did to saddams army as they fled Kuwait. Hunt them down and slaughter ever last one. leave no one standing. raize their towns and salt their fields.
They can all congregate together in the 6 feet under sanctuary, and have a grand 'ole time there all they want.
I imagine the Brits did a fine job developing the battle space, but the firepower a MEU brings to the table is...well...devastating. It’s almost unfair.
I hope the Special Forces have a greeting party waiting for the talabunnies at the border.
Well we have the hamer now we need the anvil.
Semper fi.
hamer=hammer
Probably smuggling all the hashish in Afghanistan back to wooden-shoe land
I’m holding my breath.
The Taliban are ruthless a$$holes, but they ain’t stupid.
They WILL die nonetheless, in time....
Marines on the hunt remain on the hunt until the quarry is dead or Congress calls off the hunt.....
Somewhere in the rest of that sentence, you just knew you'd find the word "Marines."
"Fleeing" is what cowards do when the American military is in the neighborhood. Nobody said cowards weren't smart.
Hopefully there are some Special Forces folks sitting on the hills overlooking these valleys as they run toward the border, just waiting to pick off terrorists with sniper fire or call in air strikes on large groups of Taliban/Al Qaeda as they head for their rat holes in Pakistan.
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