After two weeks battling the Taliban in Afghanistan's Marja town in Helmand province, Nato and Afghan forces are setting their sights on their next objective - securing Afghanistan's second largest city, Kandahar.
The city is the place where Mullah Omar founded the Taliban movement and, according to US reports, the impending operation will seek to regain control of major centres of population.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr looks at some of the challenges ahead (February 27 2010)
