7,000 U.S. Marines patrolling southern Afghan desert: Helmand province (the world's largest opium poppy-growing region)

About 7,000 of the new U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan are fanning out across the dangerous Afghan south on a mission to defeat the Taliban insurgency and to change the course of a war claiming American lives at a record pace.

The Marines represent the first wave of 21,000 troops ordered to Afghanistan this summer by President Obama. Most of the buildup will take place in Helmand and Kandahar. The two southern provinces lie at the heart of the insurgency and are close to the border with Pakistan, where the Taliban's top leadership is believed to be based.


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