Feb. 18, 2011 – Progress in Afghanistan’s Helmand River Valley has been substantial, and Marines are making progress in Sangin, a stubborn Taliban stronghold in the far northeastern part of Helmand province, the commandant of the Marine Corps said here today.
Gen. James F. Amos updated the Defense Writers Group on Marine Corps activities in the province.
The Marines went into Now Zad and Marja last year and fought pitched battles against an entrenched enemy, the general said. This year, “we walked through there, through the market, with no body armor and no helmet and spent time in Marja,” he said.
Marines are reinforcing success in the area, Amos said, with 17 M-1 tanks in Helmand, most of them in Sangin. Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are just south of Sangin.