Thousands of NATO and Afghan troops are launching an assault on Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. A NATO spokesman said operation Mushtarak, or 'Together', aims to “separate the insurgents from the population.”

Civilians were fleeing to regional capitals for safety as word of the impending assault spread, but a purported Taliban spokesman told AFP that insurgents "prefer to stay and fight."

The assault is the largest offensive NATO has ever conducted in Afghanistan. Radio Netherlands Security and Defense Specialist Hans de Vreij said the prior warning of the assault was intended to offer insurgents a choice: "either reintegrate into society or stand and fight and you'll be killed."

Listen to the interview with RNW Security and Defense Specialist Hans de Vreij:

Casualties
It is not clear when exactly the assault will start, but Hans de Vreij says special forces have already moved into the area. A large force of US Marines is leading international and Afghan soldiers in a combined force of 15,000 soldiers, Hans de Vreij said.

The British government has warned the nation to expect casualties among British servicemen participating in operation Mushtarak. The deaths of two British soldiers in Afghanistan on Sunday raised the total number of British casualties to 255, the same as died in the 1982 Falklands war, the British Ministry of Defence said. 

Control
The focus of the assault is Marjah, a town of 80,000 people in a fertile agricultural region important to the Taliban’s lucrative opium and heroin trade.

The operation aims to re-establish government control over the area, said NATO Commander General Stanley McChrystal. The initial military assault will be closely followed by civilian efforts to establish government and economic development, Hans de Vreij said.

“NATO has said that it won’t move into any areas without being able to stay there,”  Hans de Vreij said.

One civilian looking to move into Marjah is Haji Zair, the newly appointed district governor who has not yet been able to live in the Taliban-controlled town.

top photo: U.S. Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, arrive at an Afghan National Police checkpoint in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 15, 2010. (photo credit: Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez) The U.S. Army on Flickr.com