Called Marja News Today

The "times" is reporting break through, tribal elders saying theyre helping fight the taliban. thats significant. if its true, the taliban -- it would be a big influence. the taliban have turned marja into a giant booby trap. the tribal elders may know where some of the bombs are buried. the very latest now from tom foreman at the war map. >> anderson, as we speak tonight, the battlefield remains very fluid out here. im going to fly into the area, basically what we know about it is this. we fly ...

Recognize that you need something beyond just the physical elimination of your military opposition. you have to create an alternative economically for the people on the ground so that they support the national government. and so this is a beginning. this will be a very important test case to find out if the new u.s. strategy will work. >> and, peter, how tough are the rules of engagement? weve heard complaints from some marines about, look, you know, the idea here is protecting civilians. civili...

And fight or dissolve away as they have many times in the past. the u.s. is making a lot of the fact this has become a key center of operations for the taliban. >> yes, this is a spot that matters. theyre correct about that. they get opium money from there and base operations out of this town. i say a spot because there are others. we cant forget the bigger picture here. if we simply widen out and take a look at this, remember, this part of the country, helmand province, runs right down into pak...

Would be a big influence. the taliban have turned marja into a giant boobytrap. the very latest now from tom foreman at the war map. >> anderson, as we speak tonight, the battlefield remains very fluid out here. im going to fly into the area, basically wa we know about it is this. we fly into marja and take a look at this community of about 80,000 people. american troops and allies including, of course, afghans, themselves, are making progress, but as they have swept into this area it has remain...

If theres not even an arrest. you can get a very extensive background check. you can hire a private investigator to really look through everything in a persons life before theyre hired. thats unusual. i wouldnt expect a university to do that. >> and her comments that theyre still alive, is that just -- >> that shows me there may be some mental disorder here. >> or her wanting people to think there is. >> thats true. thats possible as well. we also know she went to a shooting range in the days be...

Operations for the taliban. >> yes, this is a spot that matters. they get opium money from there and base operations out of this town. i say a spot because there are others. we cant forget the bigger picture here. if we simply widen out and take a look at this, remember, this part of the country, helmand province, runs right down into pakistan here. you have to wonder how many of these fighters have moved out here. the taliban has proven to be a very adaptive group and need to be often going rig...

Challenges theyre facing here. one of them is right in this area. if we move in and take a look at a bridge going across part of one of the canals in town. many of these canals around, theyre worried many if not all of these bridges have been booby trapped or mined. theyre having to build their own bridges in many cases to cross all of these canals. there many of them. two, theyre taking great pains here to avoid too many civilian casualties. they know that can be a big deal. when they encounter...

To find an exit strategy out of afghanistan. this is the kind of plan that should have been tried a long time ago. its taken eight years to recognize that you need something beyond just the physical elimination of your military opposition. you have to create an alternative economically for the people on the ground so that they support the national government. and so this is a beginning. this will be a very important test case to find out if the new u.s. strategy will work. >> and, peter, how tou...

Are. to do that, go to weather.com. developing now, huge offensive by british and u.s. troops in afghanistan this morning. thousands of marines involved in the push right through enemy lines. the coordinated effort of afghan forces is the latest attempt to break the talibans key hold on the region. lets bring in colonel jack jacobs. good morning to you. lets talk about the push here. its success. rate that towards the mission. >> its a 5 towards a goal of 10. they want to isolate this town cal...

Minimize casualties. what we really wanted is the bad guys to leave. in fact, many did leave. about 5% of the population left, too. as a result, the only people who will be left there are the few bad guys who will remain behind. we have isolated the town. we will eliminate the bad guys there, and then insert an afghan government there and afghan soldiers who will stay there and protect it. >> in terms of the civilians, whats the militarys plan going forward? >> this is a tougher thing. how do yo...