LET'S NOT FORGET – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:  While we're comfortable in our homes, our very best are out there defending us:

MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Marines pummeled insurgents with mortars, sniper fire and missiles as fighting intensified Thursday in two areas of the Taliban southern stronghold of Marjah, where U.S. and Afghan forces are facing stubborn resistance in an operation now in its sixth day.

Marines traded machine-gun fire after coming under attack by insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades. One Marine company attacked Taliban positions surrounding them at dawn.

Marines and Afghan troops continued to battle "stiff resistance" in different parts of town, a Marine spokesman said Thursday

"We're seeing more fortified positions. They're standing their ground, essentially," Lt. Josh Diddams said. "You don't know where you're going to get a little pop up of insurgents who are going to stay and fight."

The fighting in Marjah has followed a similar pattern over the past few days: relatively light in the morning with sniper fire intensifying through midday before subsiding at nightfall.

Press reports overall tell us that the operation is going well.  But don't expect the enemy to lie down or just run away.  Our guys are facing determined people. 

There's been some good news from that theater.  From The New York Times:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days inside Pakistan, officials said Thursday, as American and Pakistani intelligence agents continued to press their offensive against the group’s leadership after the capture of the insurgency’s military commander last month.

Afghan officials said the Taliban’s “shadow governors” for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan by officials there. Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s leader in Kunduz, was detained in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, and Mullah Mir Mohammed of Baghlan Province was also captured in an undisclosed Pakistani city, they said.

It appears, at least on the surface, that we're getting more cooperation from Pakistan.  If we are, let's give credit where it's due.  The administration can take a bow.  But I'd like to see some evidence over a period of months.

February 18, 2010