May 15, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429

KABUL: Marines have faced “continuous resistance” from the Taliban since an operation began two weeks ago to remove a key militant stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the force said on Wednesday.

US Marines and British troops under Nato command launched the operation late April in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, a key battleground for the Taliban-led insurgency and an opium-producing centre. “We’re seeing a continuous resistance,” said Lt-Col Kent W. Hayes, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s second-in-command in Afghanistan.

“They are consistently engaging us,” he said, but added that “the bottom line is: When we fight them, we defeat them.” Hayes refused to comment on militant casualties from the operation, saying it was not policy to give figures, adding Garmser was a “planning, staging and logistic hub” for the rebels.

But he did not dismiss a statement on Tuesday by Helmand province governor Gulab Mangal that over 150 militants, many of them Al Qaeda-linked “foreign fighters,” had been killed in the past week in Garmser, which borders Pakistan.

Hayes also said his troops had disrupted Taliban logistics networks in Garmser.

“We are noticing that we have influenced that area greatly and we have seen that they are starting to have trouble reinforcing and getting arms and things like that,” he said.

Garmser is said to be a gateway for fresh rebel fighters and supplies coming into Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is fiercest along areas bordering Pakistan.

Some rebels are believed to have their first encounters with international troops in Garmser before moving north.

There are about 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan helping the government. The 2,400-strong Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed in March to help Nato forces over the summer, traditionally when the insurgency flares.

A separate US-led coalition including special forces has in the past week reported significant Taliban casualties in Garmser.

The Taliban were removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion launched when the extremist regime did not hand over their Al Qaeda allies following the 9/11 attacks. —AFP