Operation Khanjar Largest Marine Helicopter Attack Since Vietnam

I am guessing Obama doesn't want people to think he is nation building or God forbid spreading democratic ideas and traditions, either that or set the bar the lower he couldn't have anything held against him at a future date. As for the fighting there has unfortunately been a soldier killed as well as two British soldiers in a connected operation. The helicopter attack brought the marines in to catch the Taliban off guard while an armored column moved in to take and hold the land.

NAWA, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Marines suffered their first casualties of a massive new military campaign Thursday as they engaged in sporadic gunbattles along 55 miles of Taliban-controlled heartland in southern Afghanistan.

One Marine was killed and several others were injured or wounded on the first full day of the assault, the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban government in 2001.

The offensive will test the Obama administration's new strategy of holding territory and letting the Afghan government sink roots in Helmand province. The insurgency has proven particularly resilient in this area, where foreign troops have never before operated in such large numbers.

President Barack Obama told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he has a ''very narrow definition of success when it comes to our national security interests'' in the region. ''And that is that al-Qaida and its affiliates cannot set up safe havens from which to attack Americans.''

''I think we can measure it by whether or not they've got training camps where people are coming in and getting trained in explosives, being sent out and directed in carrying out terrorist activity,'' Obama said in Washington.

Good luck and god speed in this operation. As for just shutting down the camps how does that prevent future camps from springing up? As for the fate of the soldier who was captured, it appears he has been sold to one of the worst possible militant groups in the region:

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An American soldier captured in southeastern Afghanistan is being held by a notorious militant clan, a senior U.S. military official said.

the American and three Afghan soldiers were captured by low-level militants and then quickly "sold" to the clan led by warlord Siraj Haqqani -- believed to be deeply involved in the action.

The Haqqanis operate on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and are well known to the U.S. military. They are assembling shuras, or local councils of leaders, to talk and try to "legitimize" what they have done, the official said.

U.S., Afghan and Pakistani troops are sealing off the area and also are talking to tribal chiefs, village elders and leaders.They are telling them to "do the right thing and solve this," the official said.

The military will go to any and all lengths to bring this soldier home, may it be a speedy return.