page_title: Operation Moshtarak
section_title: February 15, 2010 (D+2)
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Moshtarak / Timeline of battle / February 15, 2010 (D+2)
caption_attribution_description: English: Cpl Jason Ducote with Lcpl Jacob Cooper on the outskirts of Marjah during Operation Moshtarak, Feb 14 2010
context_page_description: Operation Moshtarak, also known as the Battle of Marjah, was an International Security Assistance Force pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved a combined total of 15,000 Afghan, American, British, Canadian, Danish, and Estonian troops, constituting the largest joint operation of the War in Afghanistan up to that point. The purpose of the operation was to remove the Taliban from Marja, thus eliminating the last Taliban stronghold in central Helmand Province.
  The main target of the offensive was the town of Marjah, which had been controlled for years by the Taliban as well as drug traffickers.
  Although Moshtarak was described as the largest operation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, it was originally supposed to be the prelude to a much larger offensive in Kandahar that would follow Moshtarak by several months. ISAF chose to heavily publicize the operation before it was launched, comparing its scope and size to the 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah, in the hopes that Taliban fighters in the town would flee.
  The operation was also designed to showcase improvements in both the Afghan government and Afghan security forces.
context_section_description: On the morning of the third day of the operation, the American general Stanley McChrystal visited the former "insurgent capital" of Showal, where after two years the white flag of the Taliban was replaced with the red, green and black national flag. While the British 50-square-mile (130 km²) sector of northern Nad-e-Ali had fallen easily, the American troops were still pushing through Marja a few miles away where the insurgents are putting up a "final stand".
  According to American and Afghan commanders, the number of insurgents in the area had dropped by about half. About a quarter of the 400 Taliban fighters estimated to be in Marja at the beginning of the operation had been killed. Another quarter appeared to have retreated to other areas or have fled the area, including some of the commanders. In Marja itself fighting continued in two areas, at the northern end of the district and at the center.
caption: Cpl Ducote and Lcpl Cooper 3rd Bn 6th Mar India Company
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