Infantry: The Royal Marines Show How It's Done

January 14, 2009: British Marine Commandos (all British marines are commandos) recently conducted an 18 day operation against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. This operation, involving 1,500 marines and a few hundred Danish and Afghan troops, serves as a model for the kind of operations possible as several additional brigades of American troops enter the area over the next year.

The British marines killed over a hundred Taliban, and lost five of their own. More importantly, they also killed a key Taliban leader in the area, seized $3 million worth of opium (such drugs are a major source of income for the Taliban) and an IED workshop. The British marines chased down the Taliban, who tried to flee. Staying on the Taliban day after day, the marines ultimately shattered the local organization. The operation disrupted the ability of several hundred Taliban to operate and crippled their support and command network. The operation also had a bad effect on Taliban morale, and the willingness of locals to support, or simply tolerate, the Taliban.

The British made it very clear that they could decisively defeat the Taliban, and go after the enemy wherever they were, and no matter how hard their fought back. The British, in effect, dominated the battlefield, and the enemy. Multiply this several times, and run these operations constantly, and the Taliban military capability will be broken. This is nothing new. It's been done before to the Afghan tribal warriors, and accounts of such disasters are among the less popular tribal legends throughout the region.

Another Success

Defense of the Realm

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Scene of the abortive rescue attempt of a Royal Marine in January 2007 by troops carried on the outside of Apache attack helicopters, after a failed attack a Taliban fort in Jugroom, Gamsir province is now the centre of a massive operation by US Marines.

According to Reuters, in a dawn attack yesterday, the Marines stormed the provincial capital, which goes by the same name of Gamsir (sometimes spelt "Garmser"). A substantial force was deployed to Helmand, estimated by The Times at about 2,400. The action started on Tuesday, with the troops securing routes into the town in the south of Helmand province, the world's biggest opium producing region and a hotbed of insurgent activity.

This is the US Marines' first large operation in Afghanistan since arriving to reinforce NATO troops last month although they were said by The Daily Telegraph to have been supported by British forces.

The Guardian has it that the Marines landed before dawn yesterday, some trundling in on Humvee trucks and others arriving by helicopter. Within a few hours, insurgents armed with guns and rocket launchers poured out of a local madrasa, sparking fighting that lasted several hours.

The Taleban - who claimed to have hundreds of fighters in the area, entrenched in a series of pre-prepared defence - responded with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. They failed to inflict any casualties. The combat, says the paper, petered out by late morning after US helicopter gunships pounded suspected Taliban positions with rockets. Casualty figures were unknown.

The Guardian also says the operation was coordinated with the British military, which has a fortified base in the town and several outposts in surrounding areas. Scottish infantrymen, it tells us, provided covering fire as the Marines passed through their lines, while British commanders coordinated surveillance of Taliban movements.

According to US Marine spokeswoman Captain Kelly Frushour, the Marines are now in control of the town centre.

The news of this success, which has eluded British forces, comes a day after The Daily Telegraph published details of a downbeat confidential Foreign and Commonwealth Office paper, which listed "a catalogue of problems and weaknesses in Western attempts to stabilise the country."

In a list of "critical areas to fill", the paper claimed that Nato still needed three infantry battalions, more helicopters, more aircraft and more training teams to help the Afghan army. Intriguingly, it also raises concerns about the situation after November, when the US Marines currently engaged in the Garmsir operation are to be withdrawn from the south.