U.S. marines attempting to retake Helmand Valley from Taliban

August 12th, 2009 KABUL - Hundreds of Afghan and US forces launched an operation in a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan Wednesday to flush out militants before next week's presidential election. About 100 Afghan soldiers and 400 US marines began the offensive, dubbed Operation Eastern Resolve II, in the Naw Zad district of Helmand province ahead of the Aug 20 vote, the US military said in a statement.

July 30th, 2009 4 Afghan guards killed in blastKABUL — The government says a roadside blast has killed four Afghan guards in the south of the country. An Interior Ministry statement says the explosion hit the guards' vehicle in Helmand province on Thursday.

July 14th, 2009 US: 2 Marines killed in southern AfghanistanKABUL — A U.S. military spokeswoman says two Marines have been killed in southern Afghanistan.

July 14th, 2009 KABUL - Six foreign civilian contractors were killed in a helicopter crash Tuesday in southern Afghanistan after two US marines were killed in an insurgent attack in the same region, officials said. The contractors were killed in the Sangin district of Helmand province, a NATO spokesman in Kabul said.

July 14th, 2009 2 US Marines killed in southern AfghanistanKABUL — Two U.S. Marines were killed in a "hostile incident" in southern Afghanistan, where a white transport helicopter also crashed, officials said Tuesday.

July 7th, 2009 LONDON - The US marines along with Afghan troops have not received much resistance from the Taliban since the allied force launched a massive operation named Khanjar, or 'sword strike' against the insurgents in the southern Helmand river valley of Afghanistan, but now the Taliban has vowed to teach the security forces a lesson. The operation, which was launched five days ago, hardly saw the Taliban resisting the 5000 men strong allied force, and US Commanders hoped that the massive push will force the extremists to enter talks with the government, but the Taliban has some other plans.

July 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Army has deployed troops to a stretch of the Afghan border to stop Taliban militants fleeing a major US offensive in southern Afghanistan, a military spokesman said Thursday. Major General Athar Abbas told Geo TV that they had "mustered more troops from the other areas of the border" to deploy opposite the Helmand region, "It is sort of a reorganisation," he said, adding that the threat of militants crossing over had been "visualised".

July 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The first units of an estimated 4,000 US Marines began what was described as a major offensive early Thursday against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Washington Post reported on its website. Troops were moving by helicopter and heavy ground vehicles from their bases into Taliban-controlled districts in Helmand and neighbouring provinces, the newspaper and other US media reported.

July 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Thursday launched a massive operation, considered one of the largest since the Vietnam war, against the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province as part of a new initiative under President Barack Obama. About 4,000 US marines and 650 Afghan troops, supported by NATO combat aircraft, are taking part in the offensive.

July 2nd, 2009 KABUL - The US military Thursday began a large-scale offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan as a local militant commander said the Taliban had captured a US soldier. The US military said the Taliban was believed to have captured the soldier, who has been missing since Tuesday, in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktika.

July 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army has 'reorganized' its troops along the Afghan border to prevent the spill over of militants from the neighboring country following the fresh US-Afghan onslaught on the Taliban today. "We've mustered more troops from the other areas of the border to deploy opposite the Helmand region.

June 27th, 2009 KANDAHAR - Taliban militants killed eight policemen in an overnight assault on a police post in southern Afghan province of Helmand, an official said Saturday. A group of Taliban militants raided a police post north of Lashkar Gha, capital of Helmand, late Friday night killing eight policemen, provincial administration spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.

May 6th, 2009 LAHORE - As the Pakistan Army continues to struggle against the Taliban, officials in the US are confused as to why Islamabad initiated military action against the militia after it advanced so close to the federal capital, capturing several region of the Swat Valley on the way. Several top US officials had sounded the alarm immediately after the reports about the Taliban expanding its control beyond the Swat Valley were flashed, but for reasons unknown Pakistan waited for things to get worse.

March 24th, 2009 KABUL - NATO officials are claiming that a senior Taliban leader responsible for numerous roadside bombings and suicide attacks has been killed along with nine other insurgent fighters. Maulawi Hassan, described as a well-known Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed in an attack on Saturday on his compound near Kajaki, in Helmand Province, the New York Times quoted a NATO statement, as saying.

March 21st, 2009 KABUL - Thirteen Taliban militants were killed in fighting with Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand, a military official said Saturday. Twentyfive people were also detained following the Friday night operation, Helmand military commander Mohidin Ghori said.