Even while Operation Achilles is on-going, US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have launched Operation Silicon, a new assault in Southern and Western Afghanistan indended to again subvert whatever plans al Qaeda and the Taliban had for a cohesive "Sping" offensive. An offensive they have yet to manage to stage. The new operation is already having deadly results; for the enemy.
British troops pushed into a Taliban stronghold awash with opium poppies Monday, drawing mortar and machine-gun fire, in the latest NATO drive to help the government take control of southern Afghanistan.
As Operation Silicon got under way, the U.S. military reported killing 136 rebels during three days of clashes in the once-stable west, the deadliest fighting in the country since January.
The operation in the southern province of Helmand and the bloodshed in the western province of Herat show how Taliban militants have been able to regroup in the five years since a U.S.-led invasion drove them from power.
But it also shows how the growing number of foreign troops and Western-trained Afghan forces are confronting the militants in their rural heartlands.
...the separate U.S.-led coalition forces said they killed 87 militants during a 14-hour engagement, including airstrikes on Taliban positions, in the Zerkoh Valley of Herat province on Sunday.
Another 49 suspected Taliban were killed two days earlier by a combination of gunfire and an airstrike, it said. One U.S. soldier also died.
Not only is NATO being more agressive in keeping the enemy off-balance, they additionally are showing no mercy in battle
Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life.
Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them as their leader, the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head.
As the boat reached the shore, Captain Larry Staley tilted the nose of the lead Apache gunship downwards into a dive. One of the men turned to face the helicopter and sank to his knees. Capt Staley's gunner pressed the trigger and the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust.
By the time the gunships had finished, 21 minutes later, military officials say 14 Taliban were confirmed dead, including one of their key commanders in Helmand.
The mission is typical of a new, aggressive, approach adopted by American forces in southern Afghanistan and particularly in Helmand, where British troops last year bore the brunt of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
American commanders believe that the uncompromising use of airpower in recent weeks has been a key factor in preventing the Taliban from launching their expected full-scale spring offensive against coalition forces and forcing them to rethink their tactics.
Aircrews say they have been told to show no mercy, but to press home their advantage until all their targets have been destroyed. The Apache attack was one of five in three days in -Helmand, where British troops operate alongside a much smaller contingent of American infantry and special forces.
In arguing for support of surrender in Iraq, Senator Harry Reid said that instead of being in Iraq, America
...should be addressing the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
But the fact is that America can walk and chew gum at the same time.
If only Senator Reid read the papers once in a while, he'd know.
Or had confidence in a military he refuses to fund.
