AFGHANISTAN: Marines ready to 'crush the enemies of Afghanistan'

If they can get approval from the national chain of command, the Marines would like to send more than 15,000 combat troops to Afghanistan.

"We want to expand our footprint and crush the enemies of Afghanistan," Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commanding general of Marine Force Central Command, last week told Marines already deployed to Afghanistan.

In orders to one of his commanders, Helland envisions an aggressive campaign of chasing and confronting the Taliban throughout the country. "We will go where the mission takes us and where the enemy is located," he wrote to Col. Duffy White.

On one point Helland is unmovable: "I will not tolerate any violation of detainee handling procedures."

For the rest of the story about  Marine plans for Afghanistan, click here.

-- Tony Perry, reporting from Forward Operating Base Delaram, Afghanistan

Photo: Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, learn from a traveling general that the Marines are back in Afghanistan "to stay." Credit: Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times