3500 Marines Land in Afghanistan

3500 Marines deployed in Afghanistan to ease the burden on Canadian and British soldiers in Southern Afghanistan. The deployment is being characterized as a "mini-thrust" that is suppose to resemble the surge in Iraq. Then I shoul expect to hear a lot more from Afghanistan this summer. The Globe and Mail

LASH KARGAH, AFGHANISTAN — A force of 3,500 U.S. Marines charged into southern Afghanistan this morning in an effort to reduce the heavy casualties suffered by Canadian and British soldiers in the region, bringing with them new pressures on Canada and its allies to adapt to U.S. tactics and methods.

The planned marine attack on Taliban positions on the southern border, described as an Iraq-like "mini-thrust" by some U.S. officers, is a welcome development to Canadian and British NATO commanders who have seen ground lost to the insurgents and increasing deaths and terrorist attacks during the past year.

But this new U.S. contribution is accompanied by a push to "Americanize" the 40-nation NATO mission, especially in the British-Canadian Southern Command. General Dan McNeill, the U.S. Army officer who currently commands the 40-nation NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan, said in an interview that he hopes Canada and other nations will adopt U.S.-style tactics and doctrines, including lengthier deployments for soldiers, harder-line opium-poppy-eradication strategies and the use of military forces in reconstruction and humanitarian work.

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The marines, who have set up their headquarters next to the Canadian troops at Kandahar Air Field over the past month accompanied by 30 aircraft and hundreds of armoured vehicles, have spent the past three days on an aggressive drive into the far south of Helmand province, an area along the Pakistani border that remains held by Taliban militants.

The marines last night planned to take over an abandoned airfield built in the barren south of Helmand. From there, they plan an aggressive, large-scale assault on Taliban positions, designed to regain control of the vital area along the border, according to interviews with marine commanders in Kandahar.

"We want to move into some areas where [NATO] hasn't been, to disrupt the pattern of life for the insurgents," said Colonel Peter Petronzio, commander of the marine force, in an interview at his Kandahar base this weekend. "We hope to interdict their routes: weapons and fighters going north; drugs, money, casualties going south."