New Afghan Strategy Is Now Being Implemented By The U.S. Marines In Helmand Province

Marines Move Out on New Mission -- Washington Post

Thousands Deploy in Afghanistan's South in Crucial Test for Revised U.S. Strategy

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 2 -- Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

The operation will involve about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which was dispatched to Afghanistan this year by President Obama to combat a growing Taliban insurgency in Helmand and other southern provinces. The Marines, along with an Army brigade that is scheduled to arrive later this summer, plan to push into pockets of the country where NATO forces have not had a presence. In many of those areas, the Taliban has evicted local police and government officials and taken power.

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My Comment: With hindsight, this deployment should have been done last year, or at least two months ago when the poppy season started. Sigh .... better late than never.

I am not sure, but I think this mission is the biggest operation since the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq. I know that the marines are going to be successful in this operation, I can only hope that they will be able to hold the ground when the fighting is over.

But Helmand is a big province, and a few thousand marines seems inadequate for the job.

Update: U.S. Marines Try to Retake Afghan Valley From Taliban -- New York Times

Update #2: Major military operation under way in Afghanistan -- AP