New troops let Marines tackle Taliban stronghold

A U.S. Marine of the 8th Regiment Second Battalion takes up position after they came under fire from Taliban insurgents while patrolling in the Mian Poshtay area in Helmand province, October 20, 2009.

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The first reinforcements of President Barack Obama's Afghanistan "surge" will give U.S. Marines the forces needed to tackle the last major Taliban stronghold on their patch, a commander said on Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Rule, in charge of current operations for Marines in Helmand Province, said the Taliban bastion of Marja was next on the target list. An assault would come once the Marines have enough reinforcements to ensure they can launch it without having to give up territory they already control.

A unit of 1,500 Marines is due to begin arriving in Afghanistan within days, the first of 8,500 in total that will nearly double the Marine contingent in the next few months.

The 10,000 Marines now in Helmand, Afghanistan's deadliest province, seized most of the lower Helmand River valley in an operation code-named Strike of the Sword in July, the biggest offensive of the eight-year-old war.

They have left just the town of Marja, a network of irrigation canals southwest of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, as a major population center still in Taliban hands.

"Marja is going to happen. It's an enemy safe haven. It's literally a festering sore when it comes to Taliban presence," Rule told Reuters at Camp Leatherneck, the Marines' sprawling desert headquarters in Helmand.

He declined to give a timeframe for when the operation would start but said it would be possible once enough of the new Marines arrived.

"To do Marja now, we'd have to pull some people out after staying there for a short time, which is something we've committed to the Afghan people we won't do," Rule said.

"We won't leave anywhere else uncovered. We won't go anywhere we can't clear, we won't clear anywhere we can't stay and we won't stay anywhere we can't build."

HOPE TO REVERSE INSURGENCY

U.S. President Barack Obama hopes to reverse a resurgent Taliban insurgency by committing 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, to accompany the nearly 110,000-strong NATO-led force already in place.

The Pentagon announced orders last week for the first 16,000 of the new troops to deploy, with the 8,500 Marines providing the main increase in combat power alongside thousands of army trainers and enablers such as air crew.

The extra Marines will be sent to Helmand, which produces most of the world's opium, and also neighboring Kandahar province, birthplace of the Taliban movement.

Most of the 10,000 Marines already in Helmand arrived in May as part of the last major increase ordered by Obama earlier this year. They doubled the size of a British-led force in the province, with the British now focusing on the northern half while the Marines take the southern half.

Previously the overstretched British-led NATO contingent had lacked the manpower to hold onto territory it cleared in much of the province, and instead mainly defended a few scattered outposts in heavy fighting.

"When we got here (in May) a local national couldn't even walk down Nawa without intimidation from the Taliban. Now the most high-profile personality can walk down there without personal protection," Rule said of one of the towns the Marines seized in July in the fertile river valley.

Despite the success so far after the last increase ordered by Obama, Marine commanders lament a severe shortage of Afghan troops to patrol areas they clear. Afghanistan's government has promised to send up to 10,000 more of its soldiers to Helmand.

Rule said the sprawling military camp, with its endless rows of concrete barriers and semi-cylinder tents, would be able to accommodate the extra U.S. Marines that are on their way.

"When we got here (in May), we went from 3,500 to 10,000," said Rule. "It's not a challenge if you plan for it. We do business like this all the time."

(Editing by Peter Graff and Bill Tarrant)