Afghan campaign

NAWA, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. Marines suffered their first casualties of a massive new military campaign Thursday as they engaged in sporadic gunbattles along 55 miles of Taliban-controlled heartland in southern Afghanistan.

One Marine was killed and several others were injured or wounded on the first full day of the assault, the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban government in 2001.

The offensive will test the Obama administration's new strategy of holding territory and letting the Afghan government sink roots in Helmand province. The insurgency has proven particularly resilient in this area, where foreign troops have never before operated in such large numbers.

The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of U.S. forces there to reach 68,000 by year's end.

floridafun wrote:bho said the surge in iraq didnt work as a sole factor..that there had been other things implemented that allowed it to be part of an overall improvement. but you already knew that..you just like to select partial misleading specifics because its so important for you to find every possible non fact to bash anything dem/obama. sometimes i think we have dick cheeeney here in disguise..

floridafun wrote:bho said the surge in iraq didnt work as a sole factor..that there had been other things implemented that allowed it to be part of an overall improvement. but you already knew that..you just like to select partial misleading specifics because its so important for you to find every possible non fact to bash anything dem/obama. sometimes i think we have dick cheeeney here in disguise..