Nearly 4000 Marines launched the operation yesterday in parts of the southern province of Helmand, suffering their first fatality in a pivotal test of President Barack Obama`s aggressive new strategy against the Taliban.
The 1/5 Infantry Battalion met only light resistance in their push south and had already been able to meet locals at shuras (councils), Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said.
But "for 2/8 there is a hell of a fight going on in the southern quarter of the sector,`` the top Marine said on arrival at Garmsir, a town along the Helmand River that was a key objective for the offensive.
"2/8 are going to face some challenges,`` he said. The Marines were in an area called Toshtay about 25kmsouth of Garmsir.
Commanders said they would persuade locals that the Afghan security forces - backed by Western troops - offered them a better long-term future than the fundamentalist Taliban militia as Afghanistan braces for elections next month.
Yesterday Marines were inserted into Garmsir and Nawa with little resistance, and quickly overran Khanishin further south where the Taliban had set up a proxy government and justice system.
But they also recorded their first death in an air and land assault that is the Marines` biggest operation since in Fallujah in Iraq in November 2004.
"We lost a man yesterday,`` Brig Gen Nicholson confirmed.
"Any Marine casualty is a terrible thing.``
Troops yesterday destroyed a militant position in Garmsir, the commander said after a nearly two-hour drive through the desert from Camp Dwyer.
"An enemy-controlled baseline just south of Garmsir was crushed yesterday but that doesn`t mean all the enemy have gone,`` he said.
"In the next few days the enemy will observe us to see what we are doing. Then they will come back with a vengeance,`` he said.
Brig Gen Nicholson later said separately: "Garmsir is three-quarters quiet but there is fighting in Toshtay. We intend to clear that up today. This doesn`t mean it is over. The enemy may be reassessing the situation.``
