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 phase. British forces last week led similar missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said in a statement.
On the radio a little while ago, I heard that British troops are involved too, although that may refer to nearby efforts initiated earlier and mentioned above.
The operation sounds like an effort to take advantage of our greater helicopter strength in Afghanistan and the Taliban experience of fighting land-based assaults. By moving into multiple areas simultaneously by helicopter even as a land force drives intothe valley, the Taliban will not be able to easily evade the blow. We will be able to kill or capture more than a conventional push could.
In time, the Taliban will get used to such tactics and will evolve their own operations to cope as best they can, so it is good that we started out with a big operation to maximize our mobility advantage.
UPDATE: More here. The Brits are in a separate operation. And the focus is on securing the population. Sure, I don't expect search and destroy, but I hope the Marines take advantage of their unexpected jump in to kill those Taliban they find in large numbers. That will aid in securing the population.
