U.S. Marines have killed more than 80 militants in a three-week assault on a Pakistani Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday. The tally highlights the bloody fighting that has engulfed parts of the insurgency-plagued south. "The Marines have been aggressive, relentless and successful," Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager said. "They have demonstrated that there is no refuge for the Pakistanis terrorists." American commanders sent some 2,000 Marines into Afghanistan in the spring, helping swell the U.S.-dominated force to 20,000 - its largest yet - in an attempt to put militants on the defensive ahead of September elections. Pakistanis Militants have also stepped up their operations, feeding a spiral of violence that has left more than 450 people dead across the country this year.
That statement implies that if the Marines hadn't come, there wouldn't have been an increase in Pakistani Taliban violence. Somehow I doubt that's the case. |
The military says only two Marines were wounded in the latest fighting. Still, seven American soldiers have been killed in the south since the start of May, including at least one Marine, and dozens of Afghan soldiers have died in the region this year. The Marines are based in Uruzgan, the home province of unemployed potentate fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and have called in warplanes to pound a large group of militants in nearby mountains. Most of the reported fighting has been near Daychopan, in neighboring Zabul province, a rerun of clashes last summer that left more than 100 militants and one American special operations soldier dead. In another operation, Mansager said U.S. troops on Friday detained an expert bomb maker about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Kabul. He declined to give details. |