Fleeing Afghan villages warn of massing taliban

Afghan villagers fleeing Marjah ahead of the announced Moshtarak operation are warning the taliban are not fleeing but rather massing and digging in. NATO announced the major offensive in hopes that the taliban would flee rather than stay and fight.

Well at least a lot of taliban will day in the next few days.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. George S. Patton. National Post

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants are massing and preparing for a big fight ahead of a major NATO offensive in an insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan, villagers fleeing the area said on Sunday.[...]

According to some of the villagers escaping Marjah in fear of their lives, fighters are digging in rather than fleeing.

"The Taliban are not going to leave Marjah. We have seen them preparing themselves. They are bringing in people and weapons. We know there is going to be a big fight," said Abdul Manan, a man from Marjah who had fled to Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gah.

"The Taliban are very active in Marjah. They are planting mines there and in the surrounding areas," said another villager, Abdul Khaleq, after arriving in Lashkar Gah with his family.

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Taliban squad seizes hotel in Helmand

The Taliban slipped right into Helmand unnoticed , and took on the Afghan National Army , Right next door ?
Result , One dead Civilian , Five dead Taliban , one brand new slightly shot up Hotel !

Telegraph.co.uk
A Taliban suicide squad seized a hotel in Helmand on Friday, triggering gun battles with security forces in the capital of the British-garrisoned province.

Just a day after London's summit on Afghanistan, gunmen wearing suicide vests occupied the unfinished hotel yards from the governors' offices and around two miles from the headquarters of British military and aid efforts in Afghanistan.

British helicopters and troops supported Afghan forces as they fought for hours. The battle came the day after international agreement was reached to set up a trust fund to coax away moderate Taliban fighters.

It has also been disclosed that the leader of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan recently met Taliban representatives for "talks about talks" before the conference in London. But on the ground, such initiatives are hard to discern. Fighting broke out at around 9.45am (5.15am GMT) when insurgents seized the unoccupied Best Hotel, next to the Afghan National Army's Sharwali barracks on the western outskirts of Lashkar Gah. Two rockets were also fired into the area.

Haji Abdul Satar Mirzakwal, deputy governor, said intelligence reports had suggested an attack had been imminent and the attackers were disguised in police and army uniforms. Helicopters had fired on the building and the deputy governor said one civilian had been killed and seven wounded.

Afghan forces took eight hours to regain control of the hotel and said they had killed five insurgents in the battle.

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