Word on the Pentagon beat is that a much anticipated military offensive, the first of its kind under Obama’s Afghanistan surge, will get underway very soon.
Senior military commanders are calling it the largest operation since the start of Afghanistan war. 15,000 American, Afghan, and NATO forces plan to storm the central Helmand town of Marjah, one of the Taliban’s most strongly held positions in Afghanistan.
Operation Moshtarak, which means “together” in Dari, will focus on securing the population and inserting the Afghan government where drug trade and corruption now run rampant.
Marjah is a town of around 80,000 people and it’s estimated 1,000 Taliban are burrowed in to fight. Small skirmished have broken out while the Taliban attempts to draw Marines in before they are set, but the brunt of the fighting is still to come
If the attack goes to plan the Taliban will lose critical source of funding, the Afghan government will gain legitimacy, and Obama can claim his first real victory in a war many believe the U.S. is losing.