CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early today, mounting the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

The operation will involve 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which was dispatched to Afghanistan earlier this year by President Barack Obama to combat a growing Taliban insurgency in Helmand and other southern provinces.

Officers said the mission, which required months of planning, is the Marines' largest operation since the 2004 invasion of Fallujah, Iraq.

The Marines, along with an Army brigade that is scheduled to arrive later this summer, plan to push into pockets of the country where NATO forces have not had a presence.

In many of those areas, the Taliban have evicted local police and government officials, and taken power.

Once Marine units arrive in their designated towns and villages, they will build and live in small outposts among the local population. The brigade's commander, Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, said his Marines will focus their efforts on protecting civilians from the Taliban and on restoring Afghan government services instead of a series of hunt-and-kill missions against the insurgents.

"We're doing this very differently," Nicholson told senior officers a few hours before the mission began. "We're going to be with the people. We're not going to drive to work. We're going to walk to work."

Similar approaches have been tried in eastern Afghanistan, but none has had the scope of the mission in Helmand, a vast, largely arid province save for a band of fertile land that lines the Helmand River. Poppies grown in that territory produce half of the world's supply of opium and provide the Taliban with a valuable source of income.

The operation launched early today represents a shift in strategy after years of thwarted U.S.-led efforts to destroy Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan and extend the authority of the Afghan government into the nation's southern and eastern heartlands. More than seven years after the fall of the Taliban government, the radical Islamic militia remains a potent force across broad swaths of the country.

The Obama administration has made turning the war around a top priority, and the Helmand operation, if it succeeds, is seen as a potentially critical first step.

Traveling though swirling dust clouds under the light of a half-moon, the first Marine units departed from Camp Leatherneck, a remote desert base, shortly after midnight local time on dual-rotor CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters backed by AH-64 Apache gunships and NATO fighter jets.

It was not clear whether the initial Marine units faced resistance as they converged on their destinations. Commanders said that they expected only minimal Taliban opposition at the outset but that assaults on the forces likely would increase once they move into towns and begin patrols. Field commanders have been told to prepare for suicide attacks, ambushes and roadside bombings.

The U.S. strategy is predicated on the belief that a majority of people in Helmand do not favor the Taliban, who enforce a strict brand of Islam that includes eye-for-an-eye justice and strict limits on personal behavior. Instead, U.S. officials believe, residents would rather have the Afghan government in control but have been cowed into supporting the Taliban because there was nobody to protect them.

In areas south of the provincial capital, local leaders and members of the police force have fled. An initial priority for the Marines will be to bring back Afghan government officials and reinvigorate the local police forces. Marine commanders also plan to help district governors hold shuras –meetings of elders in the community – in the next week.

"Our focus is not the Taliban," Nicholson told his officers. "Our focus must be on getting this government back up on its feet."

But Nicholson and his top commanders recognize that making that happen involves tackling numerous challenges, starting with a lack of trust among the local population. That mistrust stems from concern over civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations as well as a fear that the troops will not stay long enough to counter the Taliban.

"A key to establishing security is getting the local population to understand that we're going to be staying here to help them – that we're not driving in and driving out," said Lt. Col. Eric Mellenger, the brigade's operations officer.

With the arrival of the Marines, British forces, which have been responsible for the province since 2005, have redeployed around the capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah, where they are conducting a large anti-Taliban operation designed to complement the Marine mission. Two British soldiers were reported killed in fighting in the province Wednesday.

Once basic government structures are restored, civilian reconstruction personnel plan to focus on economic development programs, including programs to help Afghans grow legal crops in the area. Obama administration officials believe creating jobs and improving the livelihoods of rural Afghans is the key to defeating the Taliban, who have been able to recruit fighters for as little as $5 a day in Helmand.

In meetings with his commanders, Nicholson acknowledged that focusing on governance and population security does not come as naturally to Marines as conducting offensive operations, but he told them it is essential that they focus on "reining in the pit bulls."

"We're not going to measure your success by the number of times your ammunition is resupplied," Nicholson told a group of officers on Sunday. "Our success in this environment will be very much predicated on restraint. You're going to drink lots of tea. You're going to eat lots of goat. Get to know the people. That's the reason why we're here."

Rajiv Chandrasekaran,

The Washington Post