Taliban Slip Away From Afghanistan Surge Battle

Wall Street Journal | July 3, 2009
Yochi J. Dreazen

The U.S. embarked on a large offensive in southern Afghanistan Thursday in which one Marine was killed, while in the east the military mobilized to recover a soldier apparently captured by the Taliban.

The offensive was led by 4,000 Marines who were sent to Afghanistan as part of the new U.S. troop surge. The move is seen as an early test of the Obama administration's efforts to restructure the foundering U.S.-led war effort.

The Marines faced little Taliban resistance as they began moving into villages in the Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold that is one of the world's largest opium-producing regions.

Marine commanders said Taliban fighters seemed to have melted into the surrounding countryside rather than staying to fight the large U.S. force.

"There's been sporadic fighting, but it's been light," Capt. Bill Pelletier, a Marine spokesman, said in an interview from southern Afghanistan. "Our focus isn't on going in and killing Taliban; it's on driving those folks out of the area and keeping them from coming back."

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