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WASHINGTON, July 16, 2009 – Defense leaders are encouraged about operations in Afghanistan, but meeting long-term objectives there will require “an enormous” worldwide commitment to train and grow Afghan forces, a Pentagon spokesman said. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates “is encouraged thus far by how things are going operationally” in the U.S. Marine-led offensive that began two weeks ago in Afghanistan’s southern provinces, Geoff Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing yesterday. Morrell acknowledged it has been “an extraordinarily difficult month” with 22 U.S. servicemembers and 17 other coalition members killed in the offensive dubbed Operation Khanjar, or “strike...

KANDAHAR: Afghanistan’s Taliban said Monday they launched a guerrilla operation to thwart a major assault by US Marines on their Helmand strongholds. Operation Foladi Jal, Pashtu for “iron net”, would teach the Marines “a lesson”. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP. “In response to Operation Khanjar by the invading forces, we have launched Operation Foladi Jal,” Ahmadi said. “Their Khanjar will get stuck in our Foladi Jal,”. “In this operation we’ll teach them a lesson so they will never again dare to come into our areas,” he said.The operation would include improvised bomb explosions and “hit-and-run guerrilla attacks”, Ahmadi said....

7/3/2009 By 2nd MEB , 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — — U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers and police are continuing clearing operations in key population centers along the Helmand River valley in an effort to secure the local population from the threat of Taliban and other insurgent intimidation and violence. Almost 4,000 Marines and Sailors from Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, along with more than 600 Afghan national security forces, are currently operating in the districts of Nawa and Garmsir in central Helmand province. MEB forces are operating as far south as the vicinity of Khan Neshin, the capital...

Operation Khanjar part of the effort to turn the tide against the Taliban in Afghanistan -snip- The 4,000-strong marine expeditionary brigade involved in the operation are part of the 21,000 extra US troops Obama has sent to Afghanistan in an attempt to turn the tide against the Taliban. The aim of Operation Khanjar is to retake the initiative in Helmand, and make it safer for elections due next month. Voter registration had been particularly poor in Helmand in part because for the past few years, the British force has been pinned down in the upper Helmand River valley between the...

U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces moved into Taliban-infested villages Wednesday evening in one of the Obama administration's first major military operations in the previously forgotten war in Afghanistan. The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. local time in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. More than 4,000 Marines and an estimated 650 Afghan soldiers and police sought to clear insurgents from towns and villages along the Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election. Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's newest...