page_title: Operation Moshtarak
section_title: Follow On Units (April to December 2010)
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Moshtarak / Follow On Units (April to December 2010)
caption_attribution_description: Canadian and Afghan national army soldiers patrol in Badula Qulp, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Feb. 17, 2010. Operation Moshtarak is an Afghan-led initiative to assert government authority in the centre of Helmand province. Afghan and ISAF partners are engaging in this counter- insurgency operation at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Helmand provincial government. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez)
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: In March 2010, when the major clearing operations were over, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade turned over the Helmand Province to the much larger I Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD). By the summer, most of the initial assault units of 2nd MEB were replaced by the units of I MEF (FWD). The official end to Operation MOSHTARAK was December 2010, though units stayed in the city for the years after.
  I MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (FWD)
  1st Marine Division (FWD)
  Regimental Combat Team 1 (USMC) (Replaced Regimental Combat Team 7 at Camp Dwyer)
  2nd Battalion, 6th Marines (USMC) (Replaced 1/6 in south Marjah, based out of FOB Marjah)
  2nd Battalion, 9th Marines (USMC) (Replaced 3/6 in North Marjah, based out of FOB Hansen)
  Company B, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion (USMC)
  Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (USMC)
  Company A, 1st Tank Battalion attached to Company A, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion (USMC)
  1st Marine Logistics Group (MLG) (FWD)
  9th Engineer Support Battalion (USMC)
caption: Canadian and Afghan National Army soldiers patrol in Badula Qulp, Helmand province, February 17, 2010
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