Camp Leatherneck

I'm finally in Helmand after an eardrum-shattering flight on a propeller-driven Italian Isaf flight from Kabul full of various Nato soldiers falling asleep two minutes after take-off. Camp Leatherhead is a big US base next to Camp Bastion, the British HQ, built for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade, about 10,000 US Marines who came in last spring-summer to help the struggling British out. Since then the Marines have taken over most of the Helmand valley, to the point where some of their generals are declaring that they have beaten the Taleban.


I'm soon flying out to one of the small combat outposts where things are actually happening to see if this is true. My guess is that the Taleban have probably run away and melted into the land. The high number of IED attacks and relatively big coalition casualty figures (for the winter) suggest that they are far from giving up. In the meantime, there is still fighting north of Now Zad, plus there is a big offensive coming up against Marjah, apparently the last big population centre that the Taleban openly control (and the centre of the opium trade).

On a lighter note: the dining camp here is much merrier than the one in Kabul, the ceiling is much closer, it isn't so damn cold and there are Afghan soldiers, too. Plus you have a cheery Marine flag hanging above a connecting door with a big skull and the following lines on it: Mess with the best / die like the rest. With this, I remain, etc.