US Marines gear up for major Afghan assault

Officials and witnesses say families have fled, loading goats, furniture and clothes on to vehicles and heading to safety in Lashkar Gah.

TOOR GHAR, February 9, 2010 (AFP) - US Marines on Tuesday stepped up preparations for a major assault on a key Taliban bastion in southern Afghanistan hailed by officers as the biggest offensive of the eight-year war.

Thousands of Afghan, US and NATO forces are expected to launch Operation Mushtarak (Together) in a bid to clear the Taliban out of Marjah, home to some 80,000 people, and expand the control of the Western-backed Afghan government.

Officials and witnesses say families have fled, loading goats, furniture and clothes on to vehicles and heading to safety in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province around 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the north.

Helmand Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal said authorities are prepared for a civilian exodus ahead of an assault that could be launched within days aimed at clearing insurgents from one of their final bastions of control.

Tents and food had been stockpiled to cater for families who left the Marjah area as Afghan, US and NATO troops prepare to take on militants massing in the area, he told reporters.

"So far we have had two waves of displaced people from the area -- 72 and 92 families," he said, adding: "We've got tents, we've got food, we have a contingency plan, everything is in place."

Provincial authorities say they have set up reception centres and stockpiled food and tents for up to 10,000 residents who may leave Marjah, but that so far fewer people had been registered leaving at points along the road.

NATO commanders have urged the Taliban to surrender but the militia, whose insurgency to bring down the Afghan government and eject foreign troops is now at its deadliest, have vowed to stay and fight.

"The combat operations for the assault of Marjah have begun," Lieutenant Colonel James "Matt" Baker, of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines Regiment told AFP late Monday, referring to the final phase of assault preparations.

About five kilometres (three miles) outside Marjah, an AFP photographer said US Marines were searching houses and compounds for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the chief Taliban killer of foreign troops, and weapons.

The market and main road were empty in the farming belt, although many local residents appeared to be staying, the AFP photographer said.

"There are troops around Nad Ali and Marjah but so far the operation has not started," said Habibullah, who heads the district administration of Nad Ali, where Marjah is located.

The coming operation is the biggest push since US President Barack Obama announced a new surge of troops to Afghanistan and military officials say it is the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion defeated the Taliban regime.

It is seen as pivotal to ground commander General Stanley McChrystal's strategy to mesh military operations with efforts to establish governance, security and development in a bid to prevent the Taliban from returning.

Mangal said officials had been open about the operation for months to give locals the chance to leave ahead of the assault and allow militants -- many of whom are seen as opportunistic fighters -- to surrender if they chose.

Obama last December ordered an extra 30,000 US troops into Afghanistan as part of the effort to defeat Al-Qaeda, reverse the Taliban insurgency and end the war so that American soldiers can start heading home in mid-2011.

Although few analysts expect the Taliban to fight face-to-face against much better equipped US and NATO troops, a purported spokesman for the militia said by telephone that its members would "stay and fight."

"Our mujahedeen are prepared. They are in the area. Most of our fighters are from the area. We have sent some additional forces but their number is very, very small," said Yousuf Ahmadi, the spokesman, from an undisclosed location.

The Taliban insurgency has been concentrated on Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar province -- fertile agricultural regions where farmland has been transformed under insurgent control into poppy plantations.

Billions of dollars worth of opium and heroin help to fund the Taliban-led insurgency, which has the Marjah region in its grip.