US Army closes in on largest Taliban stronghold

Taliban preventing people from leaving militant-controlled town of Marjah




LASHKAR GAH: US Army soldiers launched a preliminary operation on Tuesday in support of a planned US-Afghan attack on the largest Taliban-controlled town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan.




NATO and Afghan officials, meanwhile, urged the Taliban holding Marjah to lay down their weapons and warned civilians there to "keep your heads down".




About 400 US troops from the 5th Stryker Brigade as well as 250 Afghan soldiers and their 30 Canadian trainers moved into positions northeast of the town.




No casualties were reported. Large plumes of smoke could be seen in the area, and reporters travelling with the US unit could hear the distant rattle of 50-caliber machine gunfire and detonations from MK-19s, which fire 40 millimetre grenades from Stryker vehicles.




US officials have not said when the main attack on the town would take place but have nonetheless heavily publicised plans to attack, causing hundreds of people to flee in advance of the fighting.




Stopped: However, Taliban prevented townspeople from leaving Marjah, as families huddled inside their homes, witnesses said. NATO and Afghan officials have insisted their primary goal is to gain public confidence and promised to follow military action with projects aimed at restoring government control and services in the area.




"The success of the operation will not be in the military phase," NATO's civilian chief in Afghanistan, former British ambassador Mark Sedwill, said on Tuesday.




"It will be over the next weeks and months as the people... feel the benefits of better governance, of economic opportunities and of operating under the legitimate authorities of Afghanistan," he told reporters in Kabul.




Helmand Governor Muhammad Gulab Mangal said authorities were prepared for a possible civilian exodus ahead of an assault that could be launched within days aimed at clearing Taliban from one of their main bastions of control. The governor added that at least 164 families had left Marjah. agencies