Troops Get Pep Talk: Battle for Marjah Underway in Afghanistan
HOLMES: It is 12 minutes past the hour now. A quick check of some headlines we're keeping an eye on. Rescue workers spent hours looking for survivors inside a Haitian supermarket. They're not looking for survivors of the actual quake. This happened after a machine that was being used to clear rubble triggered a second collapse. Several people were in that partially collapsed building. Officials say some were helping in the search and recovery. Others were simply looting.</s>CHETRY: Wow. It looks like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not getting involved in the case against 10 Americans held in Haiti on kidnapping charges. A Washington lawyer who represents one of missionaries asked her to intervene, but a State Department spokesman says it would be, quote, "highly unusual for a secretary of state to get involved in a case involving another country's legal process." And an all-out assault on the Taliban under way in Afghanistan. And we're giving you a special look at U.S. and Afghan commanders as they get ready to send their troops into battle. This is being called the largest military operation in nearly nine years. Joint forces now hunting down Taliban fighters in a battle to seize the terrorist stronghold of Marjah. The goal is to establish security and also to gain the trust of some 80,000 Afghani citizens there. CNN's Atia Abawi has the exclusive from Helmand Province.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's beautiful.</s>ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a fire base in Helmand Province, the First battalion Sixth Marine Regiment prepares for combat. This regiment has fought in two world wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, it has a new ally on the battlefield. Brigadier General Mohiyiden Ghori of the Afghan army wishes his soldiers luck and says thanks to the Marines who will be fighting alongside his men. "You've made the best life for yourselves," General Mohiyiden says. "You built the best country your people depend on you. You are the pride of your country and now you've come from many miles away to help us. Although his soldiers say they are ready to fight, they also say they don't have proper equipment. "We don't have things like night vision," Commander Gholam Rasoul Takan says, "and it leaves us unprepared." General Mohiyiden and Brigadier General Larry Nicholson (ph) are going from base to base explaining the importance of the Marjah offensive and the importance of distinguishing civilians from the Taliban.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The population is looking for you. The enemy is not the population. OK? But we do have an enemy who's going to try to hide in that population. That's why we've got to be very careful. We've got to be very disciplined, and we've got to be very accurate.</s>ABAWI: Marjah, a town of some 80,000, is considered the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province. (on camera): Though the US Marines and the ASEAN soldiers have been preparing for the battle of Marjah for months now, but today a visit from their commanding generals is proof that the battle is about to commence. (voice-over): This isn't the first time many of these men have fought in Helmand. The Marines cleared the Taliban out of another area in 2008, but the enemy has changed.</s>LANCE CPL. CHRISTOPHER LIMA, US MARINE CORPS: I think it will be a little harder, to - they actually know how to fight this year. Last year they kind of - they used a lot of guerilla tactics. They shoot and then run. This year I think they'll try to stay around.</s>ABAWI: General Nicholson agrees.</s>BRIGADIER GENERAL LARRY NICHOLSON, US MARINE CORPS: I think some of our units will go into some pretty heavy contact and I - I think some of our units may have less contact. We don't know. All I know is we've done everything we can to prepare, and - and on the eve of this big operation, I think we're ready.</s>ABAWI: Ready, but there's still some light-hearted moments.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our secret weapon. This is the Mullah (ph). You don't want to mess with this guy, I can tell you that.</s>ABAWI: Ahead of these soldiers, many unknowns. Will the Taliban fight or melt away? How many roadside bombs await them? And can they help turn the tide of this eight-year war? Atia Abawi, CNN, Fire Base, Fiddler's Green, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.</s>CHETRY: Atia, thanks. Coming up on</s>AMERICAN MORNING, 8: 30 Eastern, we'll be joined by two experts on Afghanistan. They're going to tell us about the strategy in Marjah, also how to win over the locals there and what taking back this Taliban stronghold could mean for the war.</s>HOLMES: Well, coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, we are "Minding Your Business". Our Christine Romans sits down with the former Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, and when he thinks - what he thinks about the economy and why we may not be out of the woods just yet. It's 17 minutes past the hour.