AFP wrote on January 31:

"To force the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table... US military officials have said there needs to be greater success on the battlefield -- and this is where the Marines come in. But the challenges on the ground are immense. Fields are littered with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) responsible for most of the deaths of foreign troops in Afghanistan, which hit a record 520 fatalities last year.

"The Taliban are also entrenched in their strongholds holding sway over the population and setting up shadow governments across the country, meaning they have the local intelligence that the Marines desperately need... Five Marines were killed in southern Afghanistan in two days of January alone in IED blasts and ambushes.

"... the Marines prepare a full-on assault on Marjah in the coming weeks or months. Marjah has a population of at least 60,000. Built in the 1950s with US government help, it was intended to be a model agricultural town with an irrigation system flowing from the Helmand river. But instead of legitimate crops, poor farmers plant opium poppy, the trafficking and sale of which bankrolls the Taliban movement.

"The Marines' mission is to show US strength, assist in installing government control in Helmand province and let the local population know they have arrived. The challenge however is huge. Taliban militants harass the villagers at night, warning them of trouble if they help US troops. Under the cover of darkness, they also plant IEDs in fields the Marines have to cross."