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Sunday, February 14, 2010 MARJAH: Mines and militant sniper fire slowed progress in a massive US-led assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, commanders said on Sunday after hailing early successes. US Marines led the charge on Marjah, a town of 80,000 in the central Helmand River valley controlled for years by militants and drug traffickers, in the first major test of President Barack Obama's new surge policy. Some 15,000 US, British and Afghan soldiers stormed the Islamist stronghold in NATO's biggest operation since overthrowing the Taliban regime in 2001. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the combined forces had suffered two deaths -- one British and one American -- in the assault. Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marines in southern Afghanistan, described day one of Operation Mushtarak -- "together" in Dari -- as "good" and said "a couple of thousand Marines" were a...

Sunday, February 14, 2010 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has received multiple updates through the White House Situation Room on the US-led offensive in the Afghan town of Marjah and was to speak to his National Security Advisor General Jim Jones about it later Saturday, a White House spokesman said. General Jones recently completed a five-day trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. While in Afghanistan, Jones met with senior Afghan, US and international security force leadership and traveled to Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Panjshir, said spokesman Tommy Vietor. Additionally, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked that General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US troops in Afghanistan, update the president on the operation, Vietor said. The briefing was to take place Sunday morning. NATO commanders say the start of a major US-led offensive against a key Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan had been a success as the operation entered its second day Sunday. US Ma...