U.S. and Afghan commanders flew from base to base in central Helmand Tuesday attempting to fire up both Afghan and U.S. troops for the upcoming operation in Marjah.

Operation Moshtarak, the word for "together" in Dari, is expected to be the largest NATO operation since the war began in 2001.

And it’s said to have the largest Afghan National Army presence in any military operation to date. (WATCH American and Afghan forces gear up)

Today Brigadier General Larry Nicholson and his Afghan counterpart, Brigadier General Mohiyiden Ghori, encouraged their men and gave them the realities of what they may face.

"I think some of our units will go into some very heavy contact and I think some of our units will have less contact," Nicholson said. "We don’t know."

But he is confident that the time is right.

"All I know is that we have done everything we can to prepare, and on the eve of this operation I think we’re ready." Full story »

 The fight for Marjah could be “brutal,” writes Mark Thompson of Time magazine.

“The offensive, when it begins in earnest, will largely be conducted on foot. That's because the terrain surrounding Marjah is latticed with canals built by the U.S. a generation ago to expand agriculture to 250,000 acres in the Helmand River valley. It also gave the region the nickname "Little America." The canals and ditches created a network of bridges unable to support armored vehicles and gives the Taliban good places to hide IEDs — the top killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan — and snipers. They also turned the region into lush farmland that has proven ideal for growing opium-producing poppies,” Thompson writes.

“Both sides predict the fight for Marjah could be brutal, with belts of IEDs believed to be buried along all major approaches to the town. Unlike earlier battles over towns and villages further east, where many Taliban are from Pakistan, the enemy in Marjah is largely local, which will further complicate the fight. ‘It's harder to separate the enemy from the people,’ a Pentagon planner says, ‘when they are the people.’”

Full story »

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) - Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, three Taliban sources said Tuesday.

Mehsud died near the city of Multan while on his way to a treatment center in Karachi, the sources said.

It was not immediately clear why he was going to the treatment center.

Authorities have been looking into reports that Mehsud died after being wounded last month in a drone attack.

Word of his death contradicts a statement by a Taliban spokesman last week that Mehsud was alive and in hiding.

Read the full story

At least 60 people were killed and 60 others injured in an avalanche in a key tunnel in the Hindu Kush mountains connecting northern and southern Afghanistan, an Afghani official said.

More than 40 vehicles have been buried since the avalanche happened Monday morning in the southern part of the Salang Tunnel, said Abdul Matin Adrak,
Afghanistan's director of disaster management.

The International Security Assistance Force was attempting to fly victims
out in helicopters to hospitals and other safe places, Adrak said. The Afghan National Army, police, Ministry of Health and disaster department staffs are
all working to clear roads and rescue victims still buried, he said.

The death of a British soldier on an explosives-clearing operation in Afghanistan has pushed the British death toll there past that of the 1982 Falklands War, the Ministry of Defence announced Tuesday.

The soldier's death brings to 256 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since operations there began in 2001, the defense ministry said. The British death toll from the Falklands conflict was 255. 

The soldier, from the 36 Engineer Regiment, died Monday from an explosion in the Nad-e-Ali district of Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province. He was part of a task force to clear roadside bombs.

"He was leading a team conducting route-clearance operations at the time, making the way ahead safe for others to follow," said Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand. "His indomitable courage and fortitude, the hallmark of his profession, will not be forgotten."

The Ministry of Defence did not release his name, but said his next of kin had been informed.

Two soldiers from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, were killed by an explosion Monday, also in Helmand Province, the defense ministry said. The deaths of those soldiers, whose names were not released, meant the total death toll matched that of the Falklands.

"Sad milestones such as this naturally attract attention in the U.K., but in theater our people continue resolutely and courageously with the task of assisting Afghans to build their own future," said Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, chief of the British Defense Staff.

"We should not forget that each and every death of a member of our armed forces is a tragedy of equal proportion," British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth said. "Our thoughts at this time lie firmly with the families and friends of all the brave men and women fallen in Afghanistan, and we should all

remember that every one of them has given their lives in defense of their - and our - country."

The Falkland Islands are a British territory located 670 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the coast of Argentina. Argentina has claimed sovereignty over the islands since they were occupied by the British in 1833.

 Argentine troops invaded the islands in April 1982, sparking a two-month war with intense land and sea battles. Argentina surrendered June 14, having lost nearly 650 troops.

The next key military operation by coalition forces in Afghanistan (dubbed "Operation Moshtarak") is expected to focus on Marjah. What's known about this town in Afghanistan?

Location: Marjah is in the volatile Helmand province in southern Afghanistan

Taliban: Marjah is the last major Taliban stronghold in Helmand province. A shadow Taliban government presides in the city and those who come in and out are forced to pay a tax to the Taliban at various checkpoints surrounding the city.

Population: The city encompasses around 80,000-100,000 people

Land: Marjah and the surrounding area holds some of the richest farmlands in Afghanistan. The fertile land is ripe for farming poppies and its absence of governance keeps the drug trade alive and strong.

Afghanistan is prepared to begin taking over security from international forces in some parts of the war-torn nation by the end of the year, President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.

By the end of his five-year term in 2014, Karzai said, "conditions permitting ... Afghan forces will have full responsibility for security throughout the country, with international forces continuing to serve in the capacity of providing backup and assistance."

Speaking at the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Karzai said he planned to build up the army and the national police to some 300,000 by 2012.

Full story »

Two British soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan on  Sunday, the British Ministry of Defence said Monday. The soldiers were on foot patrol when they died in a bomb blast in the town of Sangin on Sunday evening, a ministry statement said.

The soldiers' family members had been notified, but the ministry said it would not immediately release any additional information. The two fatalities bring the total of British deaths in Afghanistan to 255 - the same number that were killed in the Falklands conflict in 1982.

Britain and Argentina fought a brief war over the British-held islands after Argentina seized them. Britain won after about two and a half months of fighting.

It’s the worst kept secret of the Afghan war and is expected to be the largest NATO operation since the war began in 2001. 

In an interview last December, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson told CNN that the next major battle would be in the city of Marjah in the southern province of Helmand.

And still today, the voices are more abundant and even louder on the impending battle.

“Where else would we go?” Nicholson told reporters recently.  “It’s the only place left in the Marine's area of operations that we’re not in.”

"I think there's a certain strength in the Pashtunwali culture just from laying it out there in saying, 'Hey, we are coming. Deal with it,'" said Nicholson.

Marjah is the last major Taliban stronghold in Helmand province.  The city encompasses around 100,000 people and holds some of the richest farmlands in Afghanistan.

The offensive has not yet started in full force, but British and Afghan troops have conducted air and ground
operations to prepare for it, the British Ministry of Defence has said.

Coalition military commanders have not said when the offensive will start, other than to say it will be soon.

Capturing Marjah would be an example of the strategy by Gen. Stanley McChrystal (commander of International Security Assistance Force) to focus on population centers and separate the people from the Taliban and then try to gain their trust.  Full story »

At least 16 Taliban members were killed during an Afghan/NATO-led military operation in southern Afghanistan, a local official told CNN on Saturday.

The operation started Friday night in Babji village of volatile Helmand province - the region where U.S. and British forces are gearing up for a major push against militants.

Abdul Satar Merzakwal, Helmand's deputy governor, said the purpose of the mission was mine-clearing.

Read more about the violence in Helmand