tonighon "worldfocus" -- u.s. marines meet hey sistance as they try to gain control of a stregic talibaheld town in southern afghanistan. could this be a signf battles to come? inaiwan, rescuers find more than a thousa people ale in the area around three villages buried beneh mudslidetriggered by last weekends typhoon. > we continue to look at the pact of climate change on remote lands. tonight, we're bk in nepal to see how a centurieold way of life is beg threatened. where did the glaciers go? and xico's on going againsdrug cartels was a topic at this weeks north americ summit. tonight ou"signature story" focuses on one othe painful side effect of that figh the disappred. from the world's leading

reporters and anasts, here's at's happening from arnd the world. th is"worldfocus." madeossible in part by the following funders good eveni. i'm martin savge. > united states marines went on the oensive today. launching a major new atck on a taliban strongho in the south ofhat country. hundreds of marines along th afghan troops went ie arr co dk r the cover darkness to take back control ofhe town of dahaneh inelmand province a key ba for taliban fighters. the marine oensive against the taliban, what it mns and whether it's likely toucceed. our "lead focus" tonight. some 500 marines a afghan army troops gathebefore dawn in preparation for the sault on dahaneh. many othe marines were dropped behind taliban les in a commandotyle raid. pictures taken by journalis from the aociated press embedded with the rines,

heier jets can be seen streaking ov head in support of the assault. once in dahane the marines met stiff resistance. talibafighters, hidden among the buildings,ired sma arms, mortars and rocket propeed grenades. the marines responded with intense d sustained gunfire. >> we're on thoffensive now inead of the defensive. lot of our missions have bee densive on our own turf. so it's od to get out here on the offens >> at least seven taliba fighters were reportedilled. thmarines also reported seizing 66 pounds of opi, an important urce of income for the taliban. anand gopais a reporter fothe christian science monitor based in kabul. >> the marines haveaunched an offense in helmand in the early rt of july. and pushing lot of the insuent fighters up north and ki of filtering out ofhe province into so the nthern provinces and this town lies along the very important route for whicinsurgents are

eting. >> alspart of the assault, a contingent of women manes brought in tdeal with afghan women ashe americans conducted house-to-house searches. today's attack marks t first timeato troops have entered the town odahaneh, which has be under the control of the taliban for ars. >> dahan is one of the key tos in the area. all the smaller towns ar economically dependent on haneh, for example, this is where the zaar is. so by berating dahaneh, we free the localopulace from the influence of the talib. >> today's actn by u.s. forces also comes in advae of next ek's presidential election. nato troops have made priority of securing towns d villages in rural afghanistan t encourage cal citizens to participate in the votin >> there's a real concern by people he by next week's pridential elections th people aen't going to be able to voter,pecial flee provinces like helmandecause the government just doesn have corol. and can't op up the poing centers so they want to go into towns like the one they di

todaand open it up and allow polling to take place. it makes a veryvisible statement. th the elections can take place. >> because the btle is on ongoing operation, the ntagon did not releas information abouu.s. or afghan caals. for more on the siation in afghanisn, we are joined once again by anthony cordesm of the center f strategic and ternational studies. and he is of crse in washington. nice to see you again. >> my please. >> what do we know aout thi on the ground tonight inhe town or in t area of dahane >> the fact is that wat you're watching is an evolving combat pattern of which tis is just rt. you ve a british campaign. a u.s.campaign. u have a whole series of fifights. what's hpening in any given area is almos impossle to edict. because sometim the taliban holds. it has a secure way to exit. so i wl dirtly engage u.

marine fces. othe times it dispses. it also has adted a tacticof trying to surround any kind of combat. come in with buried bomb or improvised elosive devices and atta forces indirecy. so trng to predict thecombat situationin given moment i very difficult. >>his fight today i not cessarily an indication, say, that the talib were --or had be emboldenedo fight more aggressively. >>o, not at all. iean they c pick to fht for a whole hostf reasons. metimes it may just be local leader. sometimes there may rally be something to predict or protect, a lge. a narcocs or some key facility. sore they mayeel this is good amsh point. they can exit once theyome under pressure engaging in somethg where you can succeed and achvingt least some casualties agast

u.s. forces an take limited casualties on your own. and of cours they oftenake stakes. there arlots of times that u.s. and briti troops ca inflict significant casuties onhe taliban. >> after your vis to afghanistan, you wrote a report sayinghat taliban appeared to be winning. thu.s. commander ere, general chrystal fered a silar bloomy asssment recently. what will it take t turn things around? well, you have to understand that what we talkut the taliban winning is not that they're winning these tactical clashes. natoisoforces have won evry single csh that has occurred. the problem the areas where you don't have ese fights, ere's very limited afghan presen in mostarts of afghantan. there's ve limiedato isappresence becausenly limid nato isap force and as a resulthe taliban habeen ale

reinfiltrate in ma areas, intimidate the loc population, drive outtraditional eaders. take over control of plitical space. it's fightg one kind of war and we've been ghting another and what general mcchrystalnd others have focused on is changing the wole wayhis war is fough and this battle a good case in point. it isn't simy a matter o defeating th taliban. it's holding the area. it's securing the population. it's bringg in afghan fors to protect them. it's providinghem with minimum amous of government services and aid they haveeason to be loyal to the centr govement and reason to reject the taliban. so it's shift from this kind of warfighting tactical stragy to what people callshape, clear, hol anduild that's te fundamental reon for this campgn. >> anthony cordesman,s alway we apprecie the insight. thk you. >> thank y.

reporters e not only embedded with the maris fighting in daneh but with otr units around afghanistan. and yestery, two associated presjournalists were seriously wounded whenheir vehicle ran er a bomb while traveling wi the u.s. mitary about 120 miles southeast of t scene of day's battle. photographer emilio morenai's foot had to be ampated and television cameraman ai jatmiko suffered l wounds and broken rib betwn 1992 and 2008, 18 urnalists had been killed in afghanistan. win the war in afghanistan,he obama administration is aski congress for $68 billion f military operaons next year. d according to a story in toy's "washington post," the u.s. aassador in kabul is now asking to increase the snding on civilian aid for at country. the "post" reports tha ambassador kareikenberry sent a cable to secretary of ste llary clinton in june requestingn additional $2.5 billiofor development and civilian government projts.

the amssador reportedly said the increase is needed " we are to show progss in the next 14 months." we want toevote a considerable aunt of time tonight to a story tt we had been rorting about regularly since our debut last fl. and i'm talking about the ongoing drug violence in neighboring mexi. a problem that sometim spills er into cities in this country. you'll recall thatarlier this week, president ob mexico with president lipe calderon a the canadian prime ministertephen harper. thpresident praised what he described as mexico's ourageous effort" to combat drug traicking and drug violce. and he spoke aut how improved coordination between t mexican military and local police officers wld help in the fit. t one of the biggest problem the federal government imexico is confronting in its war on drugs is pole corruption.

e very police supposed to combat the drug gas are sometimes in cahoo with them. this week, in northernexican in the city of monterrey offials ordered the municipal police not tsit in parked patrol cars observg traffic because they suspect those policere actually spying for the drug carte. and now to our "signatur sty," which is also about the drug violee in mexico. esmates are that 13,000 people have been lled in drug disputes in mexicouring the past three years. one place the oblem has been paicularly acute in tijuana, just across e border from sohern california, where a growing number of peop have simply vanishe th're known as "the disappeare" as "worldfocusspecial correspoent john larson first reported lasmarch, some people lieve the authorities are behi some of these abductis as well. >> this is going to be one of the busiest streets in tijuan and i was with my son. we had to come io my -- to my

brotr-in-law's office. >> reporter: chriina remembers the day 12 years a when armed n blocked he car. >> one of them came to my window. th other one came toalex's window. d with the back of the rifle hittg my carnd shouting that we had to get out of the c. all this time ias shouting, "who are you, what do you want?" letting go "why are you taking m?" >> reporter: they dragg her son alex into a n and christina never saw her game. mexi drug cartels have kidnapped for years. but these stori are different. mexicans call em "the disappead." almost 1,00 people where ere was no ransom, no body,no explanation. listen to eir storie and you'll get a sense ofjust how deep mexico's problems are.

>> translator: it was abt 4:30 in the morning when i got up and saw a bunch of suff approaing with m in masks who had gun sitting in the back. >> reporter: silvia hodges was asep with her husband in their home whethey saw wh they thought was a group o policemen gather outside. gunmen stormed the hse and begin tang everything. tvs, valuable even sheets and carpets. silvia and her husband francisco had fallen in love a teenage and workedvery day together selling clothes in a flee market. e never saw him again. >> translator: is a very difficult thg that i wi never get over. just plead to godor some news. for soone to tell me where he is. >> rorter: as for christina, shwas able to identify o of her son' kidnappers from a police photo. he was t commander of the

army's military intelligee in western mexico. a geral had also been impliced. the commandewas put on trial. >> and they convicted him? >> no, no. they let him go becausehey said there wasn't enough evidence >> reporter: wheyou can't trust the mitary and you can't trust the genera and people don't trust t police, who can you rust? >> nobody >> reporter: siously, you're smiling? >> hug it's -- it'sincredible thing that is happening in mexico. you nnot trt anydy. >> rorter:eventually a local drug lordlaimeder son had been tortured and killed. nonethess, determined to fd ou exactlyhat had happened, christina began docenting every development in mexico's drug rs. >> if he was murdere who murdered him? what happened to his remains? i think we're entled to ha a piece of him that we kn where he fnally landed.

>> reporte she also launched a group, citizens against impunity, which joined voic wi other families o "the disaeared," all demanding that authorities ke theirases more seriously. ea case is different. in me, it's thought that there may have been some relatiohip to ctel members. in others, it may have been simply what someone thoht they kn. and another stl may be just random acts of vilence. while solutions to the larger problems of the drug olence and rruption are comex, the desires of the families of "the disappeared" aresimple. th just want to know, wht happened? >> we have nowhere to . we don't know if ey're ave, if they're not ave, what happed to them? how they die it's aeeling of not having an end. >> reporter: for "worlocus," i'm john larson, tijuana, mexico. > for more about all of this we a joined tonight byndres martinez.

he is a nior fellow at the new america foundation in shington, d.c. thanks f being with us. >> thank you for hing me. we've heard a lot tonight about w official corruptions impeding therug war in mexico and m wondering that why the mexican governme deployed tens of ousands of troops to fight drug cartels, and thens it working? >> it's one of the reans why there was a perceive depl the military, yes. the fact that a lot local police fces had been compromised and infiltrated which is recurring problem in mexico. i wouldn'tay it's only from corruption though. i think it's actlly a matter -- there was no other force t throw at the proem. mexico lacks a song muscular ti police force. so paly that the government was being outgunn. >> is it worki? >> there's a stalemate in place. it worked initially. a sort of shock-and-e element to having the army patrol the streets. buover time the cartels have

adjusted to thnew reaty. and if you take say, srez in mexico lt month it was t deadlit month sincehe mexican revoluti in that city. so it'snot seen as a viable longterm strategy, no. >> the united states, understand, sromised mexico more than a biion dolrs to help win their drug war. but very little money has actuly gotten there. and i'm wondering, u knw, what is e hold up and how might that be hrting mexo's efforts? >> it's very fstrating for mexi because there have been all kind of holed ups in ter of procurement, th appropriations process ithe congss, helicopters that were promisedave not been devered. some of the aid is conditioned on human rights and certification by the congress that the army's not ausing human righ in mexico. there have bn any number of cuses to not deliver aid whi is insufficient begin with. >> the president was in guadajara this weekend and i

mean president obamand he reiteratedmerica's commitment to helping to fight this dg war. whatind of action would mexico like to e from the united states? >> well, the important -one of the important thgs is we shouldn'think of it in terms of helping mexicwith its drug fight. i thinthe positive step that obama took and that hillar clinton took earli was in acknowledging that this is shared responsility. this is a r that we're feeling with our consumpti of drugs and our -- and the money cing from the united stes. and guns, not to menti guns. the americans need to step and close the gabetween that acowledgement and what actually iplace in terms of the effort. mexico needs lot of military haware, a lot more training of its forces, and mexi needs to be more accepting of more visible presence for the u. in thi effort there sovereignty concer you know that are based -- rooted in history that also make it a ltle bit hard for mexico to receive so the aid that is necessary.

so it's kin of a two-way street in terms of the adting that needs to take placto confront the verity of the problem. >> andr martinez from thnew america fountion, thank you ry much. >> thank you. and if you would like to find out more you can find more exusive coverage on mexico. on the u.s. role at worldfocus.org. >>rescue workers say they've found as many 1,000 survivors this weekend's typhoon. inemote regions of taiwan. heavy rains and floodi rivers continue to slow theearch and hundreds are still missing and feared dead. in one vlage buried under a mudslide, thonly sign of life that the was a stranded cat. e storm dumped close to 80 inch of rain on the island and also struck the ilippines and eaern china.

water -- too mucor too little -- is a growing probl for counities world wide. and tonight we have thsecond rt of our series on the changing gbal environment from r new partner, the united nations's environmentaprogram, unep, and its irin fms projt. tonight thfilmmakers take us high up into the himalayasn the country of nep where villagers are struggli with seve drought as rising temperatures melt away the glaciers that suly their fresh war. >> reporter: in nepal himalaya is home to st of the world's highest peaks but it's aso on the front line against the fight against clite change. sna and e source of that water is running dry. is a world-class mountaineewho has climbed everestwice and seen the signs of climate change firsthand. >> come o here is a motainous, 5,800.

anin my fher's time wh he was younger, they used to have a glacr up there. and that's where the fresh water used come from. the ice would met. and it would come down these little streams heres you can see. but now there is no glacier. so the ice is meltg. now our village's sffering chronic ter shortages. >> reporte still only 24 yea old, he has alreadywon many awards for his environmental work and right n he'sworking on a plan to solve the water crisis in his village. >> o >>okay, welcome back. >> oh, thank you. >> reporter: together wi fell residents, he hopes develoent a gravi water system. that will pipe water from the nearest lake five kilometers away but until theyan raise the money they depend on the

snowfall to keep the taps running. a centies old way of life under threat. >> when i was young, we had normally one meter of -- one meter height of snow be normal. but now we -- if we gotix ches of sno then that is g snow. >> reporr: there are many thounds more villages like this across ehimalayas. all of them now facing an unceain future. >> in our bdhism mantra, it says it's like heave >> yea

>> all around mountain here. and very cln environment place he. so if w live re and then workwhere we go? so many dirty places? no, t really. it's not possible. we have to pray god n to move. > tomorrow we'll meet with buddhist monks replanting caodian forest and praying their effos bring much-needed rain. finally, we have an excet from tonight's edition othe pbs ries "wide angle."

"victory is your duty," it the story ofwo young cuban xers who dream of becoming champions while stggling through vana's boxing academy where the cuiculum is a combation of athletics and a constant stream of gernment propagan. >> reporter: 10-year-old christianaattends the hava xing academy with many othe country's be young boxers. they live in six days a ek unr a stri four hours' dailyraining, combined wi a diet that leaves them perpetually ngry. during the day the bs attend a local scho for a full schedule of classes. >> right after school christiana is backn the academy. only 10 of these4 boys will make it to the championships.

one for each weight dision. >> reporter: afterinning the championships eit years in a w, havana lost their trophy in 2006. >> reporter: it's day that still unts cristian.

[ eaking in native tongue ] check your local listing for "wide angl" u can also find it online at pbs.org/wideangl

and that'sworldfocus" for this wnesday. there's always more ne from around the globe on our webse, that's worldfos.org. i'm martinavidge in new york. aslways, thank you for joining us. we will look for you morrow and wll look for you anytime on the world wide b. until then he a good night. "worldfocu is made ssible in part by the following funders -- -- captions by vita -- www.vic.com