Marines in Marjah face full-blown insurgency

[unhappycamper]

Marines in Marjah face full-blown insurgency
By TODD PITMAN (AP) – 13 hours ago

MARJAH, Afghanistan — The young Marine had a simple question for the farmer with the white beard: Have you seen any Taliban today?

The answer came within seconds — from insurgents hiding nearby who ended the conversation with bursts of automatic rifle fire that sent deadly rounds cracking overhead.

It was a telling coincidence — and the start of yet another gunbattle in Marjah, the southern poppy-producing hub which U.S. forces wrested from Taliban control in February to restore government rule.

Eight months on, the Taliban are still here in force, waging a full-blown guerrilla insurgency that rages daily across a bomb-riddled landscape of agricultural fields and irrigation trenches.

As U.S. involvement in the war enters its 10th year, the failure to pacify this town raises questions about the effectiveness of America's overall strategy. Similarly crucial operations are now under way in neighboring Kandahar province, the Taliban's birthplace.

[hobbit709]

1. From Alexander the Great to us today.

Many have tried to conquer Afghanistan. Some have even managed to beat the locals and successfully invade, but NO ONE has managed to occupy the place for any length of time.

The US even botched the stated reason for invading(getting Bin Laden), they haven't accomplished the real reason(the pipeline, so why the fuck are we there.

[JCMach1]

2. Time to end the narco- islamo- fundamentalist- nativist clusterfrak