More than 11,000 coalition troops were preparing Wednesday for their biggest offensive since the fall of the Taliban five years ago with an attack on militants responsible for a deadly upsurge in violence across southern Afghanistan.
The push starting Thursday by U.S., British, Canadian and Afghan troops aims to squeeze Taliban fighters in four volatile provinces. It will focus on southern Uruzgan and northeastern Helmand, where the military says most of the forces are massed.
The offensive, called Operation Mountain Thrust, comes amid Afghan and coalition efforts to curb the fiercest Taliban-led violence since the hard-line Islamic government was toppled for harboring Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks.
"This is not just about killing or capturing extremists," U.S. spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul on Wednesday as he announced the operation.
In case you had any doubt that war was about guys who aren't getting laid.
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