It's a real blitzkrieg, the combined attack of massed United States marines, Afghan forces and NATO troops which has been launched against Taliban rebels in southern Afghanistan. It is also the first test of President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan. On Thursday, before dawn, 4000 US marines and hundreds of Afghan soldiers began an offensive in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. They were parachuted from 50 NATO aircraft south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in the River Helmand valley. Afghan rebels at present control the area. British NATO troops have never been able to gain a real foothold here. It is also the centre of Afghanistan's large-scale opium poppy cultivation activities. The US is convinced Operation Khanjar (`strike of the sword') will prove a turning point in its fight against the rebels. D-Day Dutch General Mart de Kruif, commander of joint NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, agrees. In a speech to US marine commanders, he compared the offensive to D-Day. "Just as the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in June 1944 heralded victory over Nazi Germany, so the offensive in Helmand is designed to be a decisive watershed in the war against the Taliban."
It's a real blitzkrieg, the combined attack of massed United States marines, Afghan forces and NATO troops which has been launched against Taliban rebels in southern Afghanistan. It is also the first test of President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan.
On Thursday, before dawn, 4000 US marines and hundreds of Afghan soldiers began an offensive in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. They were parachuted from 50 NATO aircraft south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in the River Helmand valley.
Afghan rebels at present control the area. British NATO troops have never been able to gain a real foothold here. It is also the centre of Afghanistan's large-scale opium poppy cultivation activities. The US is convinced Operation Khanjar (`strike of the sword') will prove a turning point in its fight against the rebels.
D-Day Dutch General Mart de Kruif, commander of joint NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, agrees. In a speech to US marine commanders, he compared the offensive to D-Day.
"Just as the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in June 1944 heralded victory over Nazi Germany, so the offensive in Helmand is designed to be a decisive watershed in the war against the Taliban."
