The Baltimore Sun10. Marines sweep Taliban refugeU.S. force rooting out insurgents, but expects brief effectDate: Wednesday, April 30, 2008Section: TELEGRAPHEdition: FinalPage: 1ADateline: GARMSIR, AfghanistanSource: Sun reporterByline: David WoodIllustration: Photo(s)Graph Source: David Wood : Sun PhotographerCaption: Marines battle Taliban in Afghanistan's poppy-growing region, whichproduces more than 90 percent of the world's opium. GARMSIR, Afghanistan -- More than a thousand Marines, backed by artillery andhelicopter gunships, stormed into this Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistanbefore dawn yesterday.The operation, mounted by the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, opens a newAmerican combat sweep across the region where the Taliban, ousted from power in2001, have made a strong comeback.As of last night, there were no reported Marinecasualties. The assault was launched in stages from a base near Kandahar, wherethe Sept. 11 attacks were plotted.Thundering in low over the desert in CH-53 and twin-bladed CH-46 helicopters,the battalion's Alpha and Bravo companies landed just before a half moon rose toflood the desert with light. Each of the U.S. troops carried 100 to 150 pounds ofweapons, ammunition and other supplies.Simultaneously, a convoy of Marines in light armored vehicles attacked Talibanfortifications in a former agricultural school that U.S. intelligence officerssaid was being used as a major Taliban command post. An intense firefight lastedmost of the day, until the Marines pushed the insurgents back into one area wherean airstrike finished them off, military commanders said.By midmorning, Alpha and Bravo company Marines had seized several mud-walledcompounds set amid lush poppy fields.Outside one compound, Marines were just starting to push through a poppy fieldon a combat patrol when a rocket-propelled grenade whooshed past and exploded,accompanied by a rattle of small arms fire. Two young men were seen fleeing on amotorbike, but the Marines did not return fire because it was not clear they werethe attackers.Later, two insurgents fired on a pair of Marine scout helicopters. As cheeringMarines watched, one of the Kiowa Warrior helicopters wheeled and killed theattackers with rockets.Military officers said it was possible that the Taliban would simply melt awayand return when the Marines are gone. But the Marines were prepared - and someeager - for the Taliban to come out in strength.The operation is taking place in Afghanistan's rich poppy-growing region alongthe Helmand River, an area that produces more than 90 percent of the world's opiumand is a major source of money for the Taliban. The roughly 8,000 British troops

in this part of southern Afghanistan have been unable to extend their reach beyondthese fields and south toward the Pakistan border some 75 miles south of Garmsir.U.S. intelligence officers said the Taliban had seized this area and dug in toprotect its smuggling routes for opium going south and for weapons, explosives andIslamist fighters coming north from Pakistan. Estimates of enemy numbers rangedfrom 150 to 300, with more Taliban reinforcements expected, U.S. officers said."They know we're coming - but it's at a time and place of our own choosing,"said a Marine officer just before the operation.Facing the Marines were a mixture of what intelligence officers described ashard-core foreign fighters, local Afghans hired to be soldiers and youngertrainees at a Taliban training camp.The intelligence officer said there is a "substantial" flow of non-Afghanfighters into Garmsir from Pakistan.The Marines' operation originally was opposed by some British commanders andreportedly by the Helmand provincial governor. The British officers said localvillagers were beginning to resist the Taliban's harsh rule, and they feared thatfighting in Garmsir would cause the villagers to flee.The British eventually agreed to the operation, but only after days of delaythat underscored the awkward multinational military command and a lack of a clearconsensus on strategy.Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, the seniorBritish commander in Afghanistan, told The Times of London in mid-April that themain effort in southern Afghanistan should be on reconstruction.The 24th MEU commander, Col. Peter Petronzio, said his goals for the missionare to kill insurgents, establish security for reconstruction, and disrupt theflow of weapons and fighters from the Pakistan border through this region, wherethe radical Islamic Taliban have re-established control over the past year.The Marines intend this week to clear Taliban fighters and improvisedexplosive devices from the strategic roads along the Helmand River and to seizethe village called Madrassa, after the local school, where Taliban forces werereported to be occupying a series of defensive trenches and fortifications.Underscoring the complex nature of a counterinsurgency war waged among thecivilian population, Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson, the battalion commander, told hismen that the Marines should be "no better friend, no worse enemy.""First, do no harm," he said. But he left no doubt that the point of theoperation was to kill enemy fighters.Initially, at least, Marines intend to prevent reinforcements from reachingTaliban forces fighting the British in northern Helmand province, roughly 120miles from here.But despite the effort and long planning behind the Marines' operation, it wasdesigned to be short with few lasting effects. Overall, the U.S. and alliedcommand in Afghanistan is short of troops and in most cases cannot establish asecurity presence in areas they have cleared of insurgents.British forces based just north of here will establish positions in Madrassa