Taliban Marginalized In Former Stronghold, U.S. General Says -- McClatchy NewsCAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — The Taliban insurgents in the key Afghan province of Helmand have been driven out of the towns and marginalized, while U.S. forces are making "very steady progress" even in the most violent areas of the province, said the Marine Corps general who's in charge of the region.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said in a recent interview that an aggressive push by thousands of U.S. and Afghan troops over the last year had turned around the situation in Helmand, formerly the Taliban's strongest base and their drug production capital.
Some 19,000 Marines are deployed in southwest Afghanistan, mostly in Helmand. The town of Sangin, in the north of Helmand, is considered the most dangerous place in Afghanistan. When Marines went in there last fall, they lost at least 24 troops in the first four months.
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