ASIA NEWS  MARCH 3, 2010

U.S. Redraws Afghan Command

Coalition Prepares to Establish New Military Headquarters in South Before Major Surge Offensive

In a tactical move to weaken the Taliban's stronghold in Kandahar, the U.S. and its allies are about to create a new American-led military command in southern Afghanistan. WSJ's Military Correspondent Yochi Dreazen reports

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541304575099910009756360.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

With the shooting over, the task of building a government begins 

By Joshua Partlow

updated 6:58 p.m. PT, Mon., March. 1, 2010




Men walk in the market of Karu Chareh in Marjah, southern Afghanistan.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35654780/ns/world_news-washington_post/

Pakistani officials: Nearly 15 top Taliban held

By DEB RIECHMANN AND MUNIR AHMAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_afghan_taliban.html




 

Afghan government claims Taliban stronghold

Afghan Flag Raised as Gov't Claims Taliban Town

The Afghan government took official control of the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, installing an administrator and raising the national flag while U.S.-led troops worked to root out final pockets of militants.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587390,00.html

Associated Press Writer

Updated February 20, 2010

Top U.S. Commander Sees Progress in Afghanistan, Iraq

AP

Army Gen. David Petraeus said in a speech at Princeton University that after more than eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally is getting enough troops, diplomats and organizational structure to be able to keep extremist groups from taking over again there.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/20/commander-sees-progress-afghanistan-iraq/





 

US Marines airdropped into Taliban-held territory

By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER



A U.S. Marine from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment sits alone
after a patrol in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province Friday,
Feb. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)



http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_afghanistan.html

Last updated February 17, 2010 8:51 a.m. PT

Afghan army raises flag on embattled Taliban town

By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU AND RAHIM FAIEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_afghanistan.html



 

Last updated February 17, 2010 7:49 a.m. PT

Pakistan confirms Taliban leader's arrest

By ROHAN SULLIVAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

	Pakistani police officers show explosive jackets they confiscated during a raid at a house in Chaman, a Pakistani border town along Afghanistan border on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Shah Khalid)

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_pakistan.html



 

Last updated February 16, 2010 7:26 a.m. PT

US troops at lowest level since Iraq invasion

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD -- The American military says the number of boots on the ground in Iraq has dropped below 100,000 for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Feste told The Associated Press that as of Tuesday there are 98,000 troops in Iraq.

That's a significant drop from the roughly 140,000 troops in the month after the invasion, and a decline of about 70,000 since the height of the 2007 surge in which tens of thousands were deployed to fight the insurgency.

The declining number of troops signals the U.S. is sticking by its plan to steadily reduce its number of combat troops in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August.

The U.S. military will pull out of the country completely by the end of 2011.


 

U.S., Afghan Forces Face Bombs, Booby Traps in Push to Take Taliban Stronghold

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

[IMG]http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8871/1161320.jpg[/IMG]

Feb. 13: U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment walk in
a column as they enter Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585777,00.html

Taliban, Marines Exchange Fire as Major Battle Looms

Thursday, February 11, 2010

 

NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan  —  U.S. Marines and Taliban insurgents exchanged gunfire Thursday on the outskirts of Marjah, a southern militant stronghold where American and Afghan forces are expected to launch a major attack in the coming days.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585463,00.html?test=latestnews

Last updated February 9, 2010 6:45 a.m. PT

US Army closes in on south Afghan town

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA AND KIM GAMEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
 


http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_afghanistan.html


 

Militants plan to wait out looming offensive disguised as civilians

View related photos

US Marines with 1/3 Marines Alpha company check their gear at a company operation base (COB) in Toor Ghar in Helmand province on February 8, 2010. The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan said a major offensive will send a "strong signal" and clear insurgents from their southern stronghold, as residents fled ahead of the assault. A huge force of US Marines leading NATO and Afghan soldiers is expected to launch the offensive -- said by commanders to be the largest assault against Taliban-led militants since the war began -- in Helmand province within days. AFP PHOTO/PATRICK BAZ (Photo credit should read PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images)
7:12 a.m. ET, 2/8/10

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35293212/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Marines hand over control of Anbar province to Army

The U.S. Marines marked the end of nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday by handing the Army their command of Anbar province, once one of the war's fiercest battlefields but now a centerpiece of U.S.-Iraqi cooperation.

By ADAM SCHRECK

[IMG]http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/5647/2010875069.jpg[/IMG]
Iraqi tribal figures attend a handover ceremony
at Camp Ramadi on Saturday. The Marines formally
handed over control of Iraq's western Anbar province.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010875366_iraq24.html

50,000 former fighters now in Iraqi jobs

By ADAM SCHRECK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Last updated January 19, 2010 7:31 a.m. PT

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1107ap_ml_iraq.html





 

Military is deluged in intelligence from drones

Remote-controlled planes produced about 24 years’ worth of video in 2009



This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows a MQ-9
Reaper, armed with GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided munitions
and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, during a combat mission over
southern Afghanistan

FACTBOX: U.S. orders first 16,000 deployments of Afghan surge

Following are details provided by the Pentagon on the timing and structure of those forces, the vast majority of which will not arrive until the spring:

1,500 MARINES ARRIVE IN DECEMBER

* An infantry battalion task force, with about 1,500 Marines, will deploy later this month from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

* The Marines are mainly expected to be deployed in southern Afghanistan, where fighting has been the heaviest, but the Pentagon did not say where the initial forces were headed.

NEXT 7,000 MARINES IN SPRING

* Another 6,200 Marines from Regimental Combat Team-2, headquartered at Camp Lejeune, will deploy to Afghanistan in the early spring.

* Another 800 Marines from I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton in California will deploy later in the spring.

ARMY SENDS TRAINERS

* The Army will send a Brigade Combat Team with 3,400 soldiers, on a training mission in the early spring. The soldiers will come from the 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in New York.

ENABLERS DEPLOYING

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also approved the deployment of approximately 4,100 support forces, which will deploy at various times into spring 2010. These forces provide essential services to U.S. troops and are expected to include medics, surveillance experts and land mine clearance teams.

REST OF THE TROOPS BY THE FALL

The Pentagon has said that about 20,000 to 25,000 troops will be deployed by July and all of the 30,000 forces by the fall but no additional deployments were announced on Tuesday.

(Compiled by Phil Stewart in Washington, Editing by Patricia Wilson and Chris Wilson)