Thursday, July 02, 2009

Marines Launch Operation Khanjar

Well Operation Khanjar is underway in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

The southern offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday (4:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 2030 GMT), as thousands of Marines poured from helicopters and armored vehicles into Taliban-controlled villages along roughly 20 miles of the Helmand River in Helmand province, the world's largest opium poppy-producing area. The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly contested region before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election.

It looks like they are going to do the Take-and-Hold-then-Build strategy that they used in Iraq. I wonder if the Pashtun tribesman will be as cooperative as the Sunni Sheiks were in Iraq? That will be the key I think to driving out the Taliban forever.

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