--- title: A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah | TIME description: The Marines have been unable to get control of the Marjah District in Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is thriving with support from Pakistan and revenues from opium trade in the region. canonical: https://time.com/video/z2B1utRM/ og:title: A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah og:description: The Marines have been unable to get control of the Marjah District in Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is thriving with support from Pakistan and revenues from opium trade in the region. og:url: https://time.com/video/z2B1utRM/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z2B1utRM/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah twitter:description: The Marines have been unable to get control of the Marjah District in Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is thriving with support from Pakistan and revenues from opium trade in the region. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z2B1utRM/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah [Watch (HLS stream): A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z2B1utRM.m3u8) (4:53)  _Published 2010-08-03. The Marines have been unable to get control of the Marjah District in Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is thriving with support from Pakistan and revenues from opium trade in the region._ --- Jul 27, 2023 2:24 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [U.S. Military Aircraft Crashes in Taliban-Held Eastern Afghanistan](/video/VZ3tHzQx/) ### U.S. Military Aircraft Crashes in Taliban-Held Eastern Afghanistan [Know Right Now: Taliban Attacks Pakistan University](/video/4wPQluxO/) ### Know Right Now: Taliban Attacks Pakistan University [Tragedy in Marjah, Witness to a Civilian Casualty](/video/GHeyGIo2/) ### Tragedy in Marjah, Witness to a Civilian Casualty --- ## Transcript -[ unk ] >> Go back on the street along this width line right here. All right? Hey, Ryan, Ryan. Hey, when we push across these fields, we'll move in two groups. You'll move first, just make sure you move them through that field pretty quickly. All right? >> Yeah. >> It's another sweltering day in Helmand Province, currently the fiercest battle zone in Afghanistan. And the squad from Lima Company of the Three / Six Marines is expecting to come under fire on their way back from a patrol. The squad's leader Corporal Benjamin Gurney says it's past the hour that the Marines usually get attacked. But, Gurney has been in more than two dozen fire fights in the past five months alone. So he's learned to plan for the worst. Are you most concerned about gunfire right now? >> Yes >> Or some either? >> Right, an IED is always. >> This is Marjah. A district that has become infamous for the Marines' failure to bring it under control. But a recent leak of secret military reports confirms that the Taliban Insurgency is thriving across the country. And Pakistan has provided its support. The district has been a hub for the cultivation and trafficking of Opium. And the Drug Revenue has helped seed the Insurgency as well. -[ Foreign Language ] >> The Marines have tried to promote Opium replacement by handing out subsidized crops and fertilizer. [ Foreign Language ] >> They set- up assemblies of local government, by gathering village elders for Shuras or general meetings to discuss security issues and development projects. But a deep mistrust spawned by years of war, Taliban intimidation, and the presence of foreign forces has made the task of securing Marjah nearly impossible so far. -[ Foreign Language ] >> If you kindly just remain >> These Marines are set to redeploy at the end of this summer. But few of the obstacles they encountered upon arrival have disappeared. >> Fire in the hole, fire in the hole. >> Tied in to all of it is the uncertainty that won't go away. >> I walk through here all the time. You see you have to stay right here all the time, 'cause you're here all the time. Anytime you know anything about the Taliban, all you gonna do is tell us. -[ Foreign Language ] >> I have nothing to do with the Taliban. >> Hey dude, we dont-- we're not asking you if you're part of the Taliban. We just wanted to know who own the store. >> The Marines on today's patrol are nervous. The sun is already sinking below the horizon and they've spotted men watching them from the cover of trees and walls on the other side of a field. >> This is kinda like what they do. We see them peeking on the wall first and then they'll be [ unk ]. This may seem they use diversion 'cause if you haven't heard already you've [ unk ]. My idea basically instead of just going straight up, it blows out towards you. >> Okay. >> So, >> How much does that [ unk ] >> Ah about ten. >> The few days before, another squad from Lima Company had come under fire after questioning a farmer a few miles south of here. It turned out to be an L- shaped ambush. >> Get down, get down. Right there, right in front of you. >> The Insurgency armed with machine guns and assault rifles we're attacking from two sides. >> Right here, right here in this house. They're shooting from over here to directly from our south. >> But today, the squad is lucky. They make it back to the base without receiving any fire. -[ Foreign Language ] >> Back at Combat Outpost Coutu. Corporal Benjamin Gurney debriefs his team. >> We caught a couple guys running off, and then they started peeking at us from behind corners of. Traits that we all know, it's their little way of saying, " hey, we're watching you, we're gonna shoot at you in a couple of minutes ". Alright? They didn't think the movement back was alright. We had a lot of cover, we moved quickly. I think that was kind of our success on the way back. They all said, you walked in on a guy who say who's gonna tell us where the Taliban was. That's it. >> Reporting for Time, from Marjah. >> Standby. >> I'm Abigail Hauslohner. >> You guys if you wanna take off. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Tough Fight with the Taliban in Marjah","description":"The Marines have been unable to get control of the Marjah District in Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is thriving with support from Pakistan and revenues from opium trade in the region.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z2B1utRM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2010-08-03T15:36:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z2B1utRM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/z2B1utRM/","duration":"PT4M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/z2B1utRM/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```