Thursday, May 20, 2010
A day in the Kabul Quagmire
It's summer and time to fight in Afghanistan. C.J.Chivers, writing in the NY Times, has a report of one Marine platoons day, one of many more to come.
A new fighting season has begun around Marja, a richly irrigated zone of farming villages in Helmand Province that was both the center of Afghanistan’s opium production and a haven for its insurgency. Three months ago, thousands of Marines and Afghan soldiers swept into this area. The goal was to chase away the Taliban, disrupt the drug trade and usher in a government presence that might bring Marja under national control.The Big Fool says they have to be there and they go where their officers say they should, but these Marines have no illusions.
After roughly a week of often intensive fighting, the Taliban were unable to prevent the Marines and the Afghan soldiers they brought with them from opening roads, building outposts, importing Afghan officials and starting outreach programs for villagers caught between the two sides.
But with the opium crop now harvested, and temperatures rising with summer’s approach, the Taliban have tried to exert influence anew. They do so not just with hidden bombs and a campaign of intimidation against civilians suspected of collaborating with outsiders, but with more direct clashes with Marine patrols.
Fighting is frequent again. Marines, Afghans and an interpreter have been killed in separate firefights in the past week.
“You ready to get some?” asked one, as they loaded weapons.
“Let’s go get shot,” a second Marine answered.
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