U.S. Strikes Weakened Taliban with Brute Force

U.S. forces in Afghanistan announced their offensive preparation as of 7 p.m. GMT February 9th; while Afghan civilians rush into forced evacuation. Presently the U.S. troops engage Taliban militants in a pivotal battle.

Earlier today, U.S. forces and its allies publicized a plan for a major assault in Marja, Helmand-a heavily populated city of 80,000 civilians. U.S. officials believe that a public announcement prior to an attack should reduce civilian casualties. A brute force of 20,000 is also likely to shatter enemy morale and cause an indefinite number of Taliban militants to turn themselves in, AP has assumed.

Also in the same report, the Associated Press carps the city of Marja as a "den of narcotics, traffickers and insurgents, serving as a launching pad for roadside bombs and suicide attacks," in which, to some extent is true.

The U.S. army has been in engagements weeks before, however, this battle is expected to be a vantage point of Obama's ongoing Afghan War Plan. Then again, even if U.S. soldiers are assured with their own numbers, they remain heads up for any kind of unexpected showcase coming from the enemy.

This hard line offensive was triggered by a message by the Pakistani Taliban, confirming that their reportedly dead leader, Hakimulah Mehsud, had really died from a U.S. drone strike one month ago. It is still fresh to memory all the havoc and confusion Mehsud's alleged death has brought into public attention.

Late last January, close asides to the Taliban leader had stubbornly denied its death, while cloaking it amongst several of their unreasonable statements to the media. It turns out, Taliban leader Mehsud had really died and U.S. Army officials are exactly the type to take this advantage, jump in, and devour.

Whilst the Americans have the upper hand, their power players conversely implied their lack of interest in atrocious victory, much less casualties from either side.

Afghanistan's top U.S. commander, Army General Stanley McChrystal made it clear to the press Thursday.

"We're not interested in how many Taliban we kill. We'd much rather have them see the inevitability that things are changing and just accept that," he said.

But until the battle has brewed and latterly ebbed, no one could be sure of an outcome, not even the soldiers, or their higher ups.

Sources;

Associated Press

Yahoo! News

MyStateline.com