Afghan offensive widens
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The Associated Press
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 04, 2009 00:00
NAWA, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines moved into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan on Friday, meeting little resistance as they tried to win over local chiefs on the second day of the biggest military operation here since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.
One Marine was killed and several others injured or wounded on Thursday, when some 4,000 Marines launched the operation in Helmand province - a remote area that is at the center of the country's illegal opium cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency. So far, however, there has been little resistance from the Taliban, according to a military spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier.
In the east, a bomb Friday killed three Afghans and a foreigner working on a road construction project, said the deputy governor Paktia. The blast ripped through their vehicle as it was traveling on a road that connects Paktia and Khost province, Mangal said. The aim of the operation in Helmand is not simply to kill Taliban fighters but to win over the local population, Pelletier said.
In the east, a bomb Friday killed three Afghans and a foreigner working on a road construction project, said the deputy governor Paktia. The blast ripped through their vehicle as it was traveling on a road that connects Paktia and Khost province, Mangal said. The aim of the operation in Helmand is not simply to kill Taliban fighters but to win over the local population, Pelletier said.