Marines Bracing for Taliban 
Counter-Attack in Afghanistan : "U.S. Marines in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province are bracing for a Taliban counter- attack with confidence that the insurgents won’t be able to recapture significant territory, a coalition commander said.The troops, working with NATO coalition and Afghan forces, have targeted Taliban supply depots, cut off their access to funding by controlling poppy-growing areas and staunched the flow of fighters from across the Pakistani border, said Marine Corps Major General Richard Mills.
A turnout by 1,100 of 1,500 registered voters yesterday in a local election in the town of Marjah with “absolutely no security incidents” is a sign that the progress achieved will be permanent, Mills said. He cited thriving bazaars that include book and music vendors and attendance at schools bursting with more than 100,000 students, requiring three shifts a day.
“We are preparing for a counter-attack in the springtime,” Mills told reporters at the Pentagon by video conference from the Marine Corps base Camp Leatherneck in Helmand. “The gains we’ve made, although fragile as any new democracy is, I think we’re seeing a growing momentum that tells me it is sustainable.”"
No comments :
Post a Comment