Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Coalition and Taliban forces battle throughout Afghanistan (Spring offensive begins)
The Long War Journal ^ | March 20, 2009 | Bill Roggio

Posted on 03/21/2009 6:10:07 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim

Scores of Taliban fighters and several Afghan officials were killed in fighting throughout Afghanistan. The violence marks the opening of the spring fighting season in Afghanistan as the Coalition and the Taliban surge forces for what is expected to be the toughest year of fighting since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The largest battle took place in the Gereshk district in the southern province of Helmand on March 19. Afghan soldiers and their Coalition advisers conducting "combat reconnaissance in an area of known militant presence" took fire from Taliban fighters and engaged, the US military said in a press release. The Afghan forces returned fire and routed the Taliban force. Thirty Taliban fighters were killed and one Afghan soldier was wounded in the firefight.

The same day, the Taliban killed a member of parliament, the highway police chief, and three bodyguards in an IED attack on a convoy in Helmand province. MP Dad Mohammad Khan "was known for his long opposition to the Taliban, which dated back to the hardliners' time in government between 1996 and 2001," The Associated Press reported. He served as the province's intelligence chief before being elected to parliament in 2005.

Helmand has been active the past several days. On March 18, a US airstrike killed two senior Taliban leaders in the Now Zad district. Helmand province is one of the most violent in Afghanistan as the Taliban have taken advantage of local support and the opium drug industry to maintain a foothold in the province. The US Marines killed more than 500 Taliban fighters in Helmand province after surging into the region in 2008.

In the northern province of Jozjan, the Taliban killed several senior district leaders during an ambush, according to a report in Pajhwok News.

(Excerpt) Read more at longwarjournal.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; alqaeda; bho44; bhogwot; billroggio; cicobama; longwarjournal; oef; oefsurge; pakistan; taliban; troopsupport; waronterror; wot
"[E]xpected to be the toughest year of fighting since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001."

Regardless of what any of us think of the Commander-in- Chief of the moment, we are at war (even if the C-in-C might candidly disagree). Among those thinks we owe our troops is to stay informed about where they fight.

1 posted on 03/21/2009 6:10:07 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Just Lori; TheForceOfOne; SilvieWaldorfMD; Tennessee Nana; ThreePuttinDude; eastsider; del4hope; ..

Ping!


2 posted on 03/21/2009 6:11:14 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim (In the War on Terror, there is no place to run from here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim

Prayers for our Troops!


3 posted on 03/21/2009 6:18:59 AM PDT by tiredoflaundry (Americans only hear the word "free", but never hear "just pay the shipping and handling")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim

Time for some well placed carpet bombing!


4 posted on 03/21/2009 6:21:01 AM PDT by airborne (Obama is finishing what Osama started! The destruction of the American economy!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tiredoflaundry

Word up!


5 posted on 03/21/2009 6:24:50 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim (In the War on Terror, there is no place to run from here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim; freema

Ping


6 posted on 03/21/2009 6:29:09 AM PDT by ticked
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim

Take no prisoners!!!


7 posted on 03/21/2009 6:34:22 AM PDT by tiredoflaundry (Americans only hear the word "free", but never hear "just pay the shipping and handling")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: tiredoflaundry

Precisely, my son is over there and I pray for him every day!


8 posted on 03/21/2009 6:42:49 AM PDT by pctech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: tiredoflaundry
"Take no prisoners!!!"

No sense giving the folks at ACORN more folks to register to vote in 2010.

9 posted on 03/21/2009 6:43:12 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim (In the War on Terror, there is no place to run from here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: pctech

My “Word up” was sincere. I pray for them all and am thankful for their service.


10 posted on 03/21/2009 6:45:37 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim (In the War on Terror, there is no place to run from here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim

Yup! ;-)


11 posted on 03/21/2009 6:59:59 AM PDT by tiredoflaundry (Americans only hear the word "free", but never hear "just pay the shipping and handling")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: pctech

God Bless him!


12 posted on 03/21/2009 7:00:26 AM PDT by tiredoflaundry (Americans only hear the word "free", but never hear "just pay the shipping and handling")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: ticked; 1stbn27; 2111USMC; 2nd Bn, 11th Mar; 68 grunt; A.A. Cunningham; ASOC; AirForceBrat23; ...

From a link within the article. The alphabet has interviewed the enemy?!
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=7112835&page=1


14 posted on 03/21/2009 12:40:40 PM PDT by freema (MarineNiece,Daughter,Wife,Friend,Sister,Friend,Aunt,Friend,Mother,Friend,Cousin, FRiend)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Sergeant Tim

As am I, our sons and daughters are defending liberty overseas to keep things safe for us over here. God bless them all!


15 posted on 03/21/2009 3:25:32 PM PDT by pctech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: freema
There will be lot of brutal fighting over the next few years before all the Taliban still in Afghanistan and al Qaeda along with a number of other radicalized Afghan groups are routed out and killed.
It will be tougher then Iraq, due to the geographies associated.
16 posted on 03/21/2009 4:39:00 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (I still believe Duncan Hunter would have been the best solution... during this interim in time....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson