Marjah residents running out of food and water

Independent:

As desperate residents of Marjah warned that food and water were running out yesterday, the Operation Moshtarak endgame got under way with Nato and Afghan government forces attempting to force their way into one of the last remaining Taliban enclaves.

The need for supplies in the former Taliban stronghold is becoming increasingly urgent for those who did not leave town when the fighting began. But for now, the US-led troops are focused on what they hope will be a final battle with the insurgents in the town, who repeatedly attempted to block their path yesterday.

The coalition faced ambushes among the narrow alleyways and roadside bombs on the edges of a two-square-mile stretch on the western edge of the combat zone. Warplanes, helicopter-gunships and unmanned drones circled above, but were being used only sparingly because, US commanders claimed, the militants were using civilians as shields.

Lt-Col Brian Christmas, commander of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, said: "They are squeezed. It looks like they want to stay and fight, but they can always drop their weapons and slip away."

Around 600 Afghan policemen from the Public Protection Force, the newly established gendarmerie, were waiting to move into the remainder of Marjah, as the projected first step towards establishing Afghan government control. General Mohieddin Ghouri, the head of the Afghan army in Helmand province, said: "They are in Marjah centre, in the bazaar. We are busy carrying out the clean-up and search operations" with a view to eventually setting up police posts there.

...

The allies are bringing in food to the areas that have been cleared of enemy forces. It is pretty certain that the Taliban will be making no humanitarian aid missions.