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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 can't 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 right over into pakistan where it has proven difficult to route them out. anderson? >> thanks for the ...

Challenges they're 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, they're worried many if not all of these bridges have been booby trapped or mined. they're having to build their own bridges in many cases to cross all of these canals. there many of them. two, they're taking great pains here to avoid too many civilian casualties. they know that can be a big deal. when they encounter a lot of rocketfire or gunfire they can call in helicopter gunships to help them out, but they ...

To find an exit strategy out of afghanistan. this is the kind of plan that should have been tried a long time ago. it's 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 tough are the rules of engagement? we've heard complaints from some marines about, look, you know, the...

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 taliban's key hold on the region. let's bring in colonel jack jacobs. good morning to you. let's talk about the push here. it's success. rate that towards the mission. >> it's a 5 towards a goal of 10. they want to isolate this town called marja, the sent over the opium trade. they inserted helicopters on the ground and just on t...

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, what's the military's plan going forward? >> this is a tougher thing. how do you deal with civilians caught in the middle in a firefight? this is extremely difficult. there will...