Word: helmand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2010-2019
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...preparing for the biggest battle of the eight-year war, knowing that its outcome will reveal the chances of success for President Obama's revamped Afghan strategy. About 20,000 U.S., British and Afghan troops will soon storm Marja, the Taliban's final redoubt in the southern province of Helmand. A town of 80,000, Marja has for years been a den of narcotics traffickers and insurgents, serving as a launching pad for roadside bombs and suicide attacks. If the U.S. and its allies succeed in driving out the Taliban - and, perhaps more importantly, bring a measure of security...
...effort to roll up Marja follows last summer's sweep through much of Helmand, which drove many additional Taliban into the town. While there weren't enough troops to take the town at that time, the growing ranks of Afghan security forces and some of the additional 30,000 U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan by Obama in December have given commanders the ability to storm Marja, U.S. officers say. While last year's offensive was largely a U.S.-led affair, this time Afghan forces will account for about half of the troops involved. Operation Moshtarak - "Together" in the Afghan Dari...
...Rumors that U.S. soldiers had desecrated the Koran sparked a violent protest in the southern province of Helmand last week. Rioters turned their fury on the local offices of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), whose intelligence officers then fired on the crowd, killing eight. The Americans were blamed - just a few hours after the event, many residents claimed to have seen U.S. soldiers alongside the NDS officers who fired on the crowd. The U.S. military says none of its personnel were present at the scene. Most likely, the local Taliban shadow governor promulgated the rumors of a desecrated Koran...
...that its plan to increase its troop levels this year could have violent consequences. Just days ago, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, gave an interview with ABC News in which he praised the progress that an earlier troop surge has made in securing Helmand province and taking momentum away from the Taliban. U.S. military officials have noted in the past, however, that dramatic attacks will still occur in the country despite the extra troops on the ground. Monday's commando raid seemed to prove the point. For a few hours, insecurity reigned...
Supposedly secure Western fortifications have been attacked before in Afghanistan. In October, five British soldiers were killed when an Afghan policeman fired on a U.K. training team inside a checkpoint in Helmand Province. But Grenier says that given the breadth and depth of the CIA's operations in Afghanistan, the death toll among employees has been "almost miraculously light." He adds: "Fate may have caught up with us today." The Khost death toll is second only to the record for the number of CIA staffers killed in a single day. On April 18 1983, eight members of the Agency were...