Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters that the U.S.-led offensive on the Taliban’s spiritual heartland had started with initial military and political efforts, including operations designed to secure key roads and districts surrounding the southern city.
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US Operations Begin in Kandahar
A month after losing control of their southern base in Marjah, the Taliban have begun to fight back, launching a campaign of assassination and intimidation to frighten people from supporting the U.S. and its Afghan allies.
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Taliban Turn to Fear Campaign in Marjah
Drug and weapons seizures, and the capture of a senior Taliban commander and other insurgents highlight recent operations.
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Drug, Weapons Seizures Highlight Afghanistan Operations
Afghan and coalition forces killed a senior Taliban operative, detained numerous suspected insurgents and seized weapons and drugs.
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Forces in Afghanistan Kill, Capture Militants
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that Pakistan has an “important” role to play in peace talks with the Taliban, a possible attempt to squash speculation that his government was trying to sideline its neighbor.
The Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for a suicide bombing inside a U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan that killed two NATO service members.
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Taliban Claim Suicide Attack on US Base
Fresh off a recent success, so far, in Helmand Province, American military planners are thinking ahead to the next phase of challenging the Taliban in southern Afghanistan: Kandahar.
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Fight For Kandahar Won’t Be Like Marjah
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the Fort Lewis, Wash.-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer. The latest injuries came Monday night, and the latest death three days ago. Gates praised the 800-soldier unit and told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be “at the top of the spear.” Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current military campaign in Marjah. He presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before his visits with U.S. forces at bases elsewhere in the south. On Monday, the Pentagon chief said the progress made in the Marjah offensive, launched last month, is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the war is at a turning point. The Marjah campaign routed most Taliban fighters from a town they once controlled, without a high casualty toll for U.S. troops and the Afghan security forces fighting alongside them. “People still need to understand there is some very hard fighting, very hard days ahead,” Gates told reporters. Gates met Monday in Kabul with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. McChrystal said preparations have begun for a crucial campaign to assert Afghan government control over Kandahar, spiritual home of the Taliban. Gates traveled to Afghanistan to check on the progress of the war's expansion, directed late last year by President Barack Obama. The 30,000 additional U.S. forces Obama ordered are now arriving and most will be in place by summer. Without being specific, McChrystal suggested that any heavy fighting in Kandahar will wait until more U.S. and NATO troops are ready.
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The citizens of Now Zad, Afghanistan, once the second-largest city in Helmand province, are eager to return home after U.S.-Afghan-coalition military efforts have chased out the Taliban.
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Now Zad’s Citizens Eager to Return Home
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is visiting Afghanistan to get the “ground truth” directly from U.S. servicemembers who are liberating Helmand province from the Taliban.
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Gates Visits Soldiers at Sharp End of Conflict