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War in Afghanistan · 2010 Members · from $3

Marjah, 2010

Operation Moshtarak ('Together') opened on 13 February 2010 with the largest helicopter assault of the war in Afghanistan, as U.S. Marines of the 1st and 3rd Battalions, 6th Marines, and Afghan army and commando units descended on Marjah, a Taliban-held farming district of canals and mud-walled compounds in central Helmand, while British forces cleared neighbouring Nad-e Ali. 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines had already seized the Five Points junction to the east, and light armour sealed the desert to the west. Within days the Marines held the bazaars and government buildings, but the clearing became a weeks-long grind against snipers and IEDs, with civilian deaths that shaped the campaign. On 25 February the Afghan flag was raised over the town and a new administration installed - the 'government in a box' that was meant to win Marjah's people, and proved much slower to take hold than its planners hoped.

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6th Marines on patrol in Marjah
6th Marines on patrol in Marjah — LCpl Tommy Bellegarde, USMC — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 9-12 February 2010

    Isolating Marjah

    Marjah is not a town in the usual sense but some 80 square miles (about 200 km2) of farm compounds laid out on a grid of irrigation canals dug with U.S. aid in the 1950s, home to perhaps 70,000-80,000 people and a centre of the Taliban and the opium trade in central Helmand. Commanders openly announced the offensive weeks in advance, hoping to persuade fighters to leave and civilians to stay. Estimates of the Taliban inside ran from about 400 to more than 1,000; they seeded the approaches with IEDs and, by some reports, flooded fields. On 9 February Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, flew in by night to seize Five Points, the road junction on Route 608 east of town, and beat off a Taliban attack while Bravo Company swept the road 9 km on foot from Nawa. Light armoured and amphibious-tractor companies screen the western desert.

  2. 13 February, before dawn

    The night air assault

    In the largest helicopter assault of the war, more than 60 U.S. Marine, Army, British and Canadian helicopters lift Marines and Afghan soldiers into Marjah in darkness. Afghan commandos and U.S. Special Forces (ODA 1231) land first, about three hours ahead, at the southern tip. 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines (Lt. Col. Brian Christmas) lands in the north - Kilo Company in the north-east, near the Koru Chareh bazaar - and 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (Lt. Col. Calvert Worth) in the centre, around the main bazaar and government buildings. Each Marine battalion is partnered with Afghan army troops. North of Marjah, British battle groups air-assault into Nad-e Ali and Showal the same night. Resistance at first is lighter than expected; by one estimate 11 of 13 first-day objectives are taken.

  3. 13-14 February

    The breach

    Behind the landings, armoured columns force their way in overland. Combat engineers of the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion use Assault Breacher Vehicles, rocket-propelled line charges and portable bridges to cut lanes through mined and flooded fields and across canals - for 3/6 from the north and, by Wikipedia's summary of the sources, for 1/6 from the south-east, with Afghan Kandak 3/4/205 breaching at the southern edge. Daylight brings sniper, machine-gun and RPG fire from tree lines and compounds. On 14 February two HIMARS rockets miss their target and strike a compound, killing 12 civilians, ten of them from one family by NATO's account; General McChrystal apologised and use of the system was suspended.

  4. 15-17 February

    Canal by canal

    The fight becomes a slow, block-by-block advance across the canal grid. Fighters in small teams fire from compounds and tree lines and slip away along the canals; Marines and Afghan soldiers wade irrigation ditches, clear compounds and check every path for buried bombs. Strict rules to protect civilians limit air strikes and artillery, and the Taliban are reported to fire from among civilians. Commanders warn that securing the town will take weeks, not days. 3/6 works south through northern Marjah, 1/6 outward from the centre.

  5. 18-22 February

    The bazaars

    The bazaars - Koru Chareh in the north, the central market, Balakino in the south - are both objectives and the ground fought over. On 18 February Afghan soldiers raise their flag over the Marjah bazaar on the third attempt, after earlier attempts drew gunfire; the same day, by contemporary reports, two Marines are killed by a booby-trapped door in the Balakino area in the south. Opposition in the north and centre thins as fighters are killed, leave or put down their weapons, and pockets hold out to the south and west.

  6. 25 February

    Raising the flag - the 'government in a box'

    After 12 days, Helmand's governor Gulab Mangal, Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Maj. Gen. Nick Carter attend the raising of the Afghan flag in the centre of town, and Haji Abdul Zahir is sworn in to lead Marjah. This is the 'government in a box' General McChrystal promised, 'ready to roll in': officials, police from the Afghan National Civil Order Police, and aid. Nicholson says major fighting is over but Marines are 'still clearing a few roads'; residents displaced by the fighting begin to return.

  7. Early March 2010 and after

    The slow clearing

    The battle becomes a long counter-insurgency. Marines and Afghan troops disperse into combat outposts and patrol bases, and IEDs, snipers and night-time intimidation of residents continue. On 7 March President Hamid Karzai, with McChrystal, holds a shura in Marjah, where elders air grievances over damaged property and corruption, and announces Marjah will become a district of its own. Months later McChrystal called Marjah a 'bleeding ulcer'; 1/6 and 3/6 handed over to 2/6 and 2/9 in summer 2010, and the Marjah fight was declared essentially over in December.

Weapons

Taliban

AK-47 / Type 56

AK-47 / Type 56

Assault rifle · 1949–present

At Marjah: Taliban fighters used compounds and canal banks for short, sharp ambushes, then slipped away.

Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 became the world's most widespread military rifle thanks to its simplicity and reliability in mud, heat and rain. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops carried both Soviet AKs and the Chinese-made copy, the Type 56.

Calibre
7.62×39mm
Rate of fire
about 600 rounds/min
Magazine
30-round box
Effective range
about 350 m
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · Public domain

U.S. Marines, Afghan and Coalition forces

M4 / M4A1 carbine

M4 / M4A1 carbine

5.56 mm assault carbine · 1994–present

At Marjah: Marines and Afghan soldiers cleared Marjah compound by compound across the canal grid.

A shortened, lighter M16 that became the standard weapon of U.S. Army infantry and special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; Marine infantry in 2003–04 still mostly carried the full-length M16A4.

Calibre
5.56×45 mm NATO
Barrel
14.5 in
Magazine
30 rounds
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo · public domain

Paintings and photographs

6th Marines on patrol in Marjah
6th Marines on patrol in Marjah LCpl Chris Ducharme crosses a stream on patrol in Marjah, 22 February 2010. LCpl Tommy Bellegarde, USMC — public domain · source
Clearing the Marjah bazaar
Clearing the Marjah bazaar Marines of 2/9 search the Marjah bazaar later in 2010. Pfc. Andrew Johnston, USMC — public domain · source

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: February 13.

Accuracy score: 38/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Marjah, 2010. Unit sectors follow official and contemporary reporting: the U.S. Army Aviation / Task Force Pegasus release on the air assault (DVIDS, Kilo Co. 3/6 into north-eastern Marjah); 'Marines fight insurgents, secure key intersection on road to Marjeh' (DVIDS, 1/3 at Five Points); 'Three long days and nights: the first 72 hours in Marjah with 1/6 mortarmen' (marines.mil); 'U.S. Marine Corps Review', USNI Proceedings, May 2011 (forces, breaching, objectives, reliefs); U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, 2010-2014: Anthology and Annotated Bibliography (USMC History Division); the ISAF Moshtarak media backgrounder and the ISAF Marjah backgrounder (2011: the five bazaars); NATO, Karzai's visit, 7 March 2010; ABC News, flag-raising, 25 Feb 2010; Military Times (Route 608, Five Points, COP Reilly); Bing West, Small Wars Journal, March 2010 (Task Force Commando in southern Marjah); and reporting by Dexter Filkins and C. J. Chivers (New York Times) and NPR. The Wikipedia article on Operation Moshtarak was used only for leads (breach directions, HIMARS strike, 18 Feb events). Positions of the bazaars, district centre and Five Points are approximate, and unit blocks are schematic sector placements, not traced company positions. Figures for Taliban strength and casualties vary widely between sources. Photos: U.S. Marine Corps, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Where the positions come from

Further reading