The single biggest military offensive ever undertaken in the now nine-year-old war in Afghanistan happened a year ago this week. Operation Moshtarek was a key test of President Obama’s new strategy and there were four distinct phases: CLEAR the Taliban out of the town of Marjah, HOLD all ground seized, BUILD infrastructure and governance, and TRANSFER control to Afghan security forces.
The offensive saw some of the most intense fighting in the war and journalist Ben Anderson was there to film it. For two months, Anderson was embedded with Bravo Company, the first Marines dropped into the center of Marjah. His resulting documentary shows the hour-by-hour account of the very dangerous mission to liberate the town from the Taliban. The Battle for Marjah premiers tonight on HBO at 9:00pm EST.