CAMP LEATHERNECK – The Marine commander in Helmand, Afghanistan admits it’s no secret where coalition forces will strike next.
“Marjah is the only place in Helmand we aren’t,” said Brigadier General Larry Nicholson.
Military commanders won’t say when the attack will happen – only that it will happen and that it will be an important step in the implementation the new Afghan strategy laid out last fall by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan.
The McChrystal plan focuses on protecting Afghan civilians and emphasizes securing large population centers by clearing out Taliban fighters and then rebuilding the community quickly.
Marjah, a dense population center in central Helmand, is home to roughly 125,000 Afghans and has been controlled by the Taliban for years.
As U.S. Marines fanned out across Helmand this past summer and fall, insurgents have reportedly been gathering in the city – vowing to defend it.
In recent weeks, U.S. and Afghan military commanders have been very public about an assault on Marjah.
“We want to come in hard and fast,” Gen. Nicholson said Thursday.
However, coalition commanders insist they don’t want civilians to flee.
According to Gen. Nicholson, coalition forces learned last summer how to reduce civilian causalities.
“If you go big, strong and fast you lessen the opportunity for civilian causalities. As opposed to slow methodic rolling assault. You go in and dominate. You overwhelm the enemy to the point they don’t want any part of it.”
Quick and fast assaults as envisioned by Gen. Nicholson are possible primarily only in places like Helmand that have not had an Afghan government or coalition military presence in more than three years.
“There is advantage in not being there already,” said Gen. Nicholson.
By coming in new and with the ability to deliver jobs and resources quickly, he explains, coalition forces have an opportunity to win the local population over – dividing them from the Taliban.
It is a tactical advantage, Nicholson admits, coalition forces in Eastern Afghanistan do not share since they have long had a permanent presence in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For now, the fight in Eastern Afghanistan is not his concern. But the Marines’ successes and failures in Helmand are being watched and studying by coalition commanders in Kabul and are helping shape the overall strategy across Afghanistan.