U.S. Marines Launch Offensive Against Taliban

Helicopters and Harrier jets aided marines as they launched a pre-dawn attack in the Dahaneh province in southern Afghanistan. In somewhat of a surprise to the attacking marines, Taliban fighters and other militants seemed prepared for the attack and put up significant resistance. Because this has been an unchallenged stronghold of the Taliban for years, U.S. commanders are hopeful that this offensive will scatter the Taliban and their supply chains.

With the Afghan presidential election scheduled for August 20, U.S. forces are scrambling to try to create an environment that will encourage voters to participate in the election process.

Operation Eastern Resolve 1 was a spring offensive that was successful in moving Taliban out of entrenched positions, but U.S. forces were not deep enough to sustain the ground that was taken. The new offensive is designed to ensure that once the Taliban has been routed from an area, that NATO forces will follow up and establish a stronghold.

Forces on the ground are believed to have been employing a technique known as "proportional response", which is designed to limit civilian casualties as much as possible. Given the use of helicopters and jets in the attack, it is believed that most civilians were able to safely flee the area before marines engaged the militants who had stayed behind to fight.