Marines take the fight to Taliban around Sangin where Brits had so much trouble
Image via Wikipedia...A lot of the locals still support the Taliban, but they have to respect the Marines. Overtime there are fewer who are willing to mess with the Marines. The big difference between the Marines and the Brits is the aggressive pursuit of the enemy. It has its costs, but it also has it rewards in preventing the Taliban from exercising overt control.
"Come on, come out come and play," said the marine sniper.
He spoke as he looked through his telescopic sight at a Taliban "spotter" who had just jumped behind a wall some 800ft (262m) away. The man was not armed but was talking into a radio.
"Got P-I-D [positive identification]," said the sniper. "Cleared to engage". There was the suppressed crack of a silenced sniper round. The man fell to the ground.
"Enemy KIA (killed in action). Doin' the dead man dance."
"Good shooting, bro," came the reply.
It was the 50th kill for this sniper team. The US marines believe they have accounted for hundreds of Taliban since they arrived in Sangin four months ago, relieving the British forces here.
Back then, the marines say, they were coming under fire in their main bases every day. Now the fighting has moved to the countryside.
The marines say they have created an expanding "bubble of security" which includes Sangin town, the bazaar and the main road through the district, route 611.
This has been achieved, they believe, through new tactics. The UK forces had strung out a series of small patrol bases along route 611. The Americans closed half of them, making more forces available to pursue the Taliban.
"A change was needed and that change was to free up forces to manoeuvre against the enemy," said the Helmand commander, US Marine Corps General Richard Mills, talking about his approach over the whole of the province.
"The tactics before I got here were focused a little bit too heavily on the local areas. I wanted to regain the momentum of the attack... I wanted to put the pressure on the Taliban."
Gen Mills was full of praise for the UK military. The marines were building on the success of the British forces who held Sangin before them, he said. But the marines also believe they are pushing out further and harder than any unit before them.
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Military historian, Bing West, who was visiting Sangin and had joined the patrol said the Brit commanders were too risk adverse which led to Taliban forces having freedom of movement in some areas. Stopping that freedom of movement is one of the objectives of a good counterinsurgency operation.
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