Source

U.S. and allied commanders in Afghanistan are preparing for the biggest battle of the eight-year war, knowing that its outcome will reveal the chances of success for President Obama's revamped Afghan strategy. About 20,000 U.S., British and Afghan troops will soon storm Marja, the Taliban's final redoubt in the southern province of Helmand. A town of 80,000, Marja has for years been a den of narcotics traffickers and insurgents, serving as a launching pad for roadside
bombs and suicide attacks.
If the U.S. and its allies succeed in driving out the Taliban - and,
perhaps more importantly, bring a measure of security to Marja - U.S.
officials believe it will mark a turning point in the war.

The battle has actually been under way for several weeks, as Afghan and Western forces have announced their plans to the local population while
moving into position. Pentagon officials say this unusually public
"shaping" of the battlefield has one key goal: while hundreds of
hard-core Taliban are hunkering down for a fight, many more, along with
thousands of residents, have fled Marja until the dust settles. That
should limit civilian casualties
and, they hope, lure some lukewarm Taliban over to the government side.
"We're not interested in how many Taliban we kill," Army General
Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S., commander in Afghanistan, said
Thursday. "We'd much rather have them see the inevitability that things
are changing and just accept that." (See pictures of the new U.S. offensive in Afghanistan.)

But U.S. and Afghan officials know that die-hard Taliban forces have been burying hundreds of improvised explosive devices around the town
in recent weeks. "It's giving time and space to those who want to fight
to dig in," says Ali Jalali, who served as Afghanistan's first
post-Taliban Interior Minister and now works with the Pentagon's National Defense University in Washington. "It could be very bloody, and that could affect public opinion in Europe and the U.S."

The effort to roll up Marja follows last summer's sweep through much of Helmand, which drove many additional Taliban into the town. While there weren't enough troops to take the town at that time, the growing ranks of Afghan security forces and some of the
additional 30,000 U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan by Obama
in December have given commanders the ability to storm Marja, U.S.
officers say. While last year's offensive was largely a U.S.-led
affair, this time Afghan forces will account for about half of the
troops involved. Operation Moshtarak - "Together" in the Afghan Dari
language - is meant to signal growing cooperation between Afghan and
foreign forces, and the Afghans' ability to shoulder more of the burden
of defending their country. "The Afghan
forces all have Marine haircuts right now," McChrystal noted of the
local troops preparing to storm the town alongside U.S. Marines. (See pictures of challenges British troops faced in Helmand.)

The offensive, when it begins in earnest, will largely be conducted on foot. That's because the terrain surrounding Marja is latticed with
canals built by the U.S. a generation ago to expand agriculture to
250,000 acres in the Helmand River valley. It also gave the region the nickname "Little America." The canals and ditches created a network of bridges unable to support armored vehicles and gives the Taliban good places to hide IEDs - the top killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan - and snipers. They also turned the region into lush farmland that has proven ideal for growing opium-producing poppies.

Both sides predict the fight for Marja could be brutal, with belts of IEDs believed to be buried along all major approaches to the town.
Unlike earlier battles over towns and villages further east, where many
Taliban are from Pakistan,
the enemy in Marja is largely local, which will further complicate the
fight. "It's harder to separate the enemy from the people," a Pentagon planner says, "when they are the people." (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban.)

But it's what follows the fighting that will be the real test. While many in Marja detest the Taliban, they are just as angry at the
impotence of the Afghan government to better their lives despite years
of promises. U.S. officials say Afghan President Hamid Karzai,
some 500 miles from Marja in Kabul, has become a full partner in the
planning of the offensive and its follow-up development efforts. Afghan
and U.S. experts will flood Marja after the offensive, helping to set
up local government and schools, and offering cash to entice poppy
growers to shift to wheat. After driving the Taliban out, Afghan and
allied troops plan on staying in Marja to ensure its security. The
Taliban will have little recourse once the offensive begins. Instead of
fighting to the death, U.S. officials believe some of them will melt
into the local population to fight another day, while others will flee
to fight elsewhere.

As McChrystal prepares to launch the offensive, he's got one eye on Marja and the other on the calendar. If he and his forces prevail, it will serve as the template
for the far more challenging battle this summer for the Taliban capital
of Kandahar,
about 100 miles to the east. Success in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second
largest city, would mean that McChrystal is on track to achieving
Obama's ultimate goal: to start sending U.S. troops back home in July
2011.