ARTICLES BY ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU

Troops clear last pockets of resistance in Marjah

MARJAH, Afghanistan - Marines and Afghan troops cleared the last major pocket of resistance in the former Taliban-ruled town of Marjah on Saturday - part of an offensive that is the run-up to a larger showdown this year in the most strategic part of Afghanistan's dangerous south.

COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Fighting rages as Karzai urges restraint from NATO

MARJAH, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers advanced through poppy fields of Marjah on Saturday under withering gunfire from Taliban fighters shooting from mudbrick homes and compounds where families huddled in terror.

COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

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U.S. Marines seize Taliban headquarters

MARJAH, Afghanistan - After a fierce gunfight, U.S. Marines seized a strongly defended compound Friday that appears to have been a Taliban headquarters - complete with photos of fighters posing with their weapons, dozens of Taliban-issued ID cards and graduation diplomas from a training camp in Pakistan.

COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

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Taliban town skeptical of NATO promises

MARJAH, Afghanistan - The Taliban's white flag no longer flies over villages across this militant stronghold. Afghan and NATO troops have replaced it with Afghanistan's official green-and-red banner, which they promise heralds new schools and clinics and good governance.

COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO

Bombs slow US advance in Afgan town

MARJAH, Afghanistan - Bombs and booby traps slowed the advance of thousands of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers moving Saturday through the Taliban-controlled town of Marjah - NATO's most ambitious effort yet to break the militants' grip over their southern heartland.

COEUR D'ALENE PRESS | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO