Afghan assault on Taliban to test US strategy

Operation Mushtarak is an experiment in combining the military objective of eradicating the Taliban with the need to replace their brand of harsh control with the civilian authority of Kabul, analysts said.

The battle for Marjah, an agricultural plain in the central Helmand River valley, is the proving ground for US General Stanley McChrystal's counter-insurgency theory for winning the hearts and minds of Afghan people.

Married to President Hamid Karzai's programme of encouraging Taliban to quit the fight and return to mainstream society -- and US President Barack Obama's troop surge -- McChrystal's plan is being played out in the poppy fields of Helmand.

"This fight is aimed at showing the Taliban and other anti-government groups the power of the government, to show them there is no place they can relax so they will eventually want to reconcile," said political analyst Ahmad Saedi.

Thousands of US, NATO and Afghan troops have massed around Marjah preparing for a fight that military commanders say will eradicate the Taliban from one of the last places under their sway in Helmand province.