British troops launch anti-Taliban evation
British and Afghan troops launched a military operation on Friday.
KABUL:
British and Afghan troops launched a military operation on Friday to secure a transport route in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, one of the most volatile theatres of the nine-year war.
The operation began in Sayedebad town in Nad Ali, a district bordering Marjah, where US Marines in February launched one of the biggest operations of the nearly nine-year war.
Britain’s defence ministry said Operation Tor Shezada, or “black prince”, would improve security in Marjah by securing a transportation route that would “increase freedom of movement for locals”.
“The operation is currently ongoing and reports back from the commanders on the ground say it is progressing according to plan,” Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, was quoted as saying.
Sources said that Tor Shezada was aimed at driving Taliban from the area, so that the government’s control could be re-established, which would pave way for the development of projects such as schools, clinics and markets.
Nato and the United States have close to 150,000 troops in the country, with 30,000 deployed in the Taliban’s southern heartland in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
Britain has around 10,000 troops in Helmand and a recent reorganisation of southern deployments has seen up to 20,000 US troops, mostly Marines, move into the province, taking over some regions from the British.
Marjah was considered a strategic goal as it had long been controlled by insurgents and drug traffickers, who used the region as a production and transportation route.
The operation there began on February 13, amid expectations that the insurgents and criminal gangs would easily be routed. They, however, planted bombs over a wide area, killing both soldiers and civilians and impeding development efforts.
It may be mentioned that violence in different parts of Afghanistan continued. Three Nato officials were killed in a Taliban-style bombing in Kabul, official sources informed. In another act, a motorcycle bomb, which was targeting a candidate in Afghanistan’s upcoming parliamentary election, killed a woman and a child instead, on Friday, in the city of Kandahar, police informed.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.
British and Afghan troops launched a military operation on Friday to secure a transport route in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, one of the most volatile theatres of the nine-year war.
The operation began in Sayedebad town in Nad Ali, a district bordering Marjah, where US Marines in February launched one of the biggest operations of the nearly nine-year war.
Britain’s defence ministry said Operation Tor Shezada, or “black prince”, would improve security in Marjah by securing a transportation route that would “increase freedom of movement for locals”.
“The operation is currently ongoing and reports back from the commanders on the ground say it is progressing according to plan,” Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, was quoted as saying.
Sources said that Tor Shezada was aimed at driving Taliban from the area, so that the government’s control could be re-established, which would pave way for the development of projects such as schools, clinics and markets.
Nato and the United States have close to 150,000 troops in the country, with 30,000 deployed in the Taliban’s southern heartland in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
Britain has around 10,000 troops in Helmand and a recent reorganisation of southern deployments has seen up to 20,000 US troops, mostly Marines, move into the province, taking over some regions from the British.
Marjah was considered a strategic goal as it had long been controlled by insurgents and drug traffickers, who used the region as a production and transportation route.
The operation there began on February 13, amid expectations that the insurgents and criminal gangs would easily be routed. They, however, planted bombs over a wide area, killing both soldiers and civilians and impeding development efforts.
It may be mentioned that violence in different parts of Afghanistan continued. Three Nato officials were killed in a Taliban-style bombing in Kabul, official sources informed. In another act, a motorcycle bomb, which was targeting a candidate in Afghanistan’s upcoming parliamentary election, killed a woman and a child instead, on Friday, in the city of Kandahar, police informed.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.