7 in Allied Forces Die in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — More than half of the 11 NATO fatalities in the Marja offensive so far occurred on Thursday, as Taliban fighters continued to put up determined resistance in some parts of the city in southern Helmand Province.

Spokesmen for the International Security Assistance Force and the British Ministry of Defense on Friday confirmed that four Americans and two British servicemen had been killed on Thursday. In all, eight Americans and three Britons have died in the first week of the offensive.

The operation will take another 25 to 30 days “to be entirely sure that we have secured that which needs to be secured,” Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, the commander of British forces in the offensive and of the NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, said in a video teleconference with reporters in Washington on Thursday.

At the same time, spokesmen for the international force said efforts had already begun to restore civic society to Marja, which with 80,000 people is the most populous Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan. “To date, two ‘schools-in-a-box’ have been opened in Nad-e-Ali,” a news release from the international force said Friday

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/world/asia/20afghan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss