Reuters First to Report on Major Afghanistan Offensive

It was just a matter of when — and not whether — the international forces in Afghanistan, boosted by a surge of U.S. troops, would try to take the initiative from the Taliban. Reuters was in the field with U.S. marines when they launched an assault in the lower Helmand river valley before dawn on July 2. Our news alert on the start of the offensive was unmatched by the Associated Press or by Bloomberg. The BBC repeatedly credited Reuters on the offensive and the Washington Post, even though it has a reporter of its own in Afghanistan, ran the Reuters story on its website through the day. As well as being first, Reuters coverage was broader and more analytical than those of its competitors, spelling out the complexities and implications of a new strategy that the United States hopes will turn the tide of the war in Afghanistan.