Helmand assault meant to take back region

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine-led assault in Afghanistan's Helmand province is designed to wrest control of the poppy-growing region from the Taliban, the military said.

The massive "Operation Khanjar" offensive against the Taliban in the most violence-plagued part of Afghanistan is led by about 4,000 U.S. Marines and about 650 Afghan soldiers backed by helicopters gunships.

Poppy harvests and opium smuggling from the southwestern province have largely helped finance the Sunni Islamic militants' insurgency, The New York Times reported.

The Marine Expeditionary Brigade is part of the 21,000 additional troops that U.S. President Barack Obama plans to send to Afghanistan to put down the growing Taliban violence.

The Times report said that in Helmand, where much of the British forces are based, the militants have adopted a hit-and-run guerrilla warfare. Some of the improvised explosive devices used against the British troops are made from fertilizer provided to Afghan farmers to wean them from opium production, the report said.

The objective of the new U.S. mission is to use more troops and resources than ever before and also for the troops to live in and patrol the region to protect civilians, the report said.

"What makes Operation Khanjar different from those that have occurred before is the massive size of the force introduced, the speed at which it will insert, and the fact that where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, Marine commander in Helmand, said in a statement.