Taliban "Digging In" Ahead of Huge Afghan Offensive

Ahead of a major NATO operation in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, Taliban militants are digging in. US Marines are set to launch an operation within days to take Marjah, an area of lush farmland criss-crossed by canals in the centre of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province. The operation will be one of the biggest offensives of the eight-year-old war and the first major show of force since US President Barack Obama ordered in 30,000 extra troops. The operation has been flagged in advance in the hope militants will give up the fight in what commanders say is the last big Taliban enclave in the province. But some of the villagers escaping Marjah in fear of their lives said fighters were digging in rather than fleeing. Abdullah Nasrat, a Taliban commander in Nad Ali district where Marjah is located, told Reuters by telephone there were about 2,000 insurgents there ready to fight to the death. "We are well prepared and will fight until the end. We don't have sophisticated weapons like the Americans with tanks and airplanes, but we have Islamic zeal. That is the power we have to fight against the infidels," he said.