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Summary
US-led forces were Saturday winding down one of their biggest offensives yet in Afghanistan, but an official said it was a mere prelude to a larger assault in the works on the Taliban bastion of Kandahar.The top US general in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, had already flagged his intention to target Kandahar following an offensive, now in its third week, to retake control of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in neighboring Helmand province. If our overall goal for 2010 in Afghanistan is to reverse the momentum of the Taliban, then we think we have got to get to Kandahar this year, said the senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Militants have over the past year made startling gains in the area around Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement. Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar ruled Afghanistan from there before US-led forces invaded in 2001. McChrystal described the city in his assessment of the war last August as the key geographic objective of the Quetta Shura Taliban, the main faction led by Mullah Omar. The US official was offering an assessment of the offensive in Marjah, which the administration views as key preparation for the potentially bigger battle of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city.
