Firefights with militants are still a regular occurrence in Operation Moshtarak,the coalition effort to secure the Afghan town of Marjah which began in February.And roadside bombs continue to be a lethal threat.For the young leathernecks,life is still a primitive grind in this agricultural zone of mud huts and irrigated fields.
More than 20 U.S. Marines have died in the operation.It has displaced the militants;now the area must be held until the Afghan security forces can do it themselves.
The militants never give up.A hardened cadre,they are as pesky as the fleas which bite the Marines-but much more dangerous.Afghanistan is steeped in a drug-financed guerrilla culture,and the Marines must confront that fact daily.
So far this month,there have been 20 U.S. deaths in Helmand Province,where Marjah is located.There have been a total of 55 coalition deaths in the Afghan War this October.
Helmand Province is known for the poppy fields which support the drug trade that bankrolls the Taliban militants;42% of the world's opium comes from those fields.The province borders the militant heartland of Kandahar Province.
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