winning hearts & minds....

[spanone]

Militants fire on troops in Marja; 12 Afghan civilians reported killed by NATO forces

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Outside Marja, Afghanistan -- Insurgent holdouts in the town of Marja on Sunday aimed sporadic but sometimes intense fire at U.S. Marines and Afghan troops seeking to solidify their hold on the southern Afghan town.

NATO also reported that its forces had accidentally killed 12 Afghan civilians in a misdirected rocket strike in Nad Ali, the district in which Marja lies -- the first major episode of civilian casualties since the start of the offensive Saturday. The alliance expressed deep regret and said it was immediately suspending use of the weapons system involved.

Afghan officials said 27 insurgents had been killed so far in the fighting in Helmand province, long a heartland of the insurgency. NATO reported the death of a Western service member in an explosion Sunday in southern Afghanistan but did not disclose the nationality of the person or say whether the fatality had come in the course of the assault on Marja.

The offensive, among the largest since the start of the Afghan war in 2001, is the first major military confrontation since the start of a 30,000-strong U.S. troop buildup ordered late last year by President Obama. In coming months, the town also will serve as a crucial test case of Afghans' ability, with NATO help, to maintain order and governance in areas that the coalition succeeds in clearing of Taliban.

On the second full day of fighting, the Taliban and other insurgent foot soldiers remained a shadowy enemy: Western commanders still do not have a solid estimate of how many militants remain in the farming town and its environs, which for years had served as a Taliban sanctuary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-offensive15-2010feb15,0,84026,print.story

[Wilms]

1. .

[Autumn]

2. One of the

best pictures I have ever seen, kind of says it all.