On Thursday U.S. military officials in Afghanistan announced that the U.S. troops moved forward to a major operation, called “Operation Khanjar” or “Strike of the Sword,”. This operation started on Thursday at 1 a.m. local time. At Helmand, the U.S. marines were gathered for briefing on Wednesday.

This operation is launched by about 4,000 American, and 650 Afghan soldiers. Most of the Americans are from marines. They have moved into Helmand province, a region is the world’s largest opium poppy producing area and a Taliban stronghold.

The Pakistani military sent its troops to its border with Afghanistan to block Taliban escape routes to the south.
After the launch of the operation, now more than 13,000 members of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Helmand province. It includes 6,900 from the U.S., 6,200 from the United Kingdom and hundreds from Denmark and Estonia.

In this same province Helmand, 33 soldiers were killed and several vehicles were destroyed by the Taliban, according to a Taliban spokesman. NATO forces denied his statements and reported no casualties. About 30 U.S., U.K. and Danish troops have been killed in Helmand since January. Marines will control the areas they take and then provide security to the Afghan forces, Marines Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said in a statement.

This operation is the first big move since U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal took over as the allied commander in Afghanistan in mid-June. A senior defense official told in Washington, the size and scope of the new operation are “very significant.”
An official said,

“It’s not common for forces to operate at the brigade level,”

He also added,

“In fact, they often only conduct missions at the platoon level. And they’re going into the most troubled area of Afghanistan.”

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Soldier

Soldiers