
Yesterday, 4,000 US Marines poured out of Black Hawk helicopters and APCs into the southern Helmand province in Afghanistan, beginning a massive offensive move to secure the most wild portions of the country. This long ever due offensive marks the beginning of the real fight for Afghanistan under the new strategy put forth by President Obama.
It has been known for years that we have been losing the fight in Afghanistan, bad. The whole point of the original war on terror was to secure Afghanistan, wrestle control away from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and get that son of a bitch Bin Laden. Seven years later we were no closer to a free Afghanistan or a captured Bin Laden, but with this new strategy being implemented we should all watch closely as the situation will change very quickly.
With lessons learned from the war in Iraq, we now understand that we can’t just bomb the hell out of the place and call it a victory. The US Armed Forces is shifting away from blanket attacks to building the infrastructure of the country and winning over the local population with real jobs and income.
The 4,000 troops will occupy and hold areas that haven’t even been touched yet, blazing new territory so fast that the insurgency is being caught with their pants down. Now with Iraq’s security being handed over to the Iraqi national army, the US Armed Forces will have the manpower and resources that it needs to effectively make a real difference in Afghanistan. The real fight is just starting, but now the insurgents in Afghanistan that once were safe are about to get squeezed real hard, giving real hope that this fight can be won, and Bin Laden can finally be brought to justice, or at the very least, bring some amount of closure.
-TheHed















