U.S. Marines launch assault in southern Afghan valley (lower Helmand river valley)

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 7/1/09 | Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

LOWER HELMAND RIVER VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN (Reuters) – U.S. Marines launched a helicopter assault early on Thursday in the lower Helmand river valley in southern Afghanistan, spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier said.

A Reuters correspondent in the valley saw flares in the sky over the town of Nawa, south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

The valley of irrigated wheat and opium fields along the Helmand river is largely in the hands of Taliban fighters who have resisted British-led NATO forces for years.

The United States has sent 8,500 Marines to Helmand province in the last two months, the largest wave of a massive buildup of forces that will see the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan rise from 32,000 at the beginning of this year to 68,000 by year's end.

President Barack Obama has declared the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan to be the main security threat facing the United States.

Helmand province is one of the Taliban's main heartlands in southern Afghanistan and produces the largest share of the country's opium crop which supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin.

[NormsRevenge]

A U.S. Marine from 5th Battalion 10th Marines patrols with a member of an Afghan border guard unit in the desert of the lower Helmand River valley, in southern Afghanistan July 1, 2009. The United States has sent 8,500 troops to Helmand Province in the past two months, the biggest wave in a massive buildup that will see U.S. forces more than double from 32,000 at the beginning of this year to 68,000 by year's end. REUTERS/ Peter Graff

[pissant]

Expect many virgins to be needed. God Bless our warriors.

[Red_Devil 232]

8,500 Marines is more than half a Division. Be very afraid!