Some dumbass on This Week (no, not George Will) was just

[Subdivisions]

talking about the Marjah (Marjeh) offensive in Afghanistan. He said one of the challenges of the mission is the fact that Marjeh is a city with a population of around 60,000.

My question for you, DUers, is: Is Marjeh an underground city?

[Kalyke]

1. Sometimes Google Maps block out strategic locations.

However, I think, in this case, that it's just not showing up prominantly because the houses are mostly clay, made from the very sand that surrounds the city.

[Make7]

2. I believe it is more of a rural farm community. You should zoom in more on your picture. ( n/t )

[The_Commonist]

3. Did you try maybe, oh I don't know...

...zooming in a little more?

All that dark stuff looks like farms.
There are people there.
And 60,000 isn't even that many.
There are quite a few Panoramio pictures as well.
Looks pretty well inhabited...

[Subdivisions]

5. Those are farms. But there's no city there. These fools make it sound

like we're fighting an urban war there when all we're really doing is slaughtering farmers who happen to be pissed that we're in their country and their province.

[ck4829]

4. Can see the outlines of buildings if you zoom in

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Marjeh,+Helmand,+Afghanistan&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.838189,112.763672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Marjeh,+Helmand,+Afghanistan&ll=31.514386,64.113722&spn=0.025317,0.05506&t=h&z=15

[Subdivisions]

6. I guess I hung on too tightly to our definition of 'city' because that is a

farming area and not something we would recognize as being a "city", like nearby Qandahār is a city.

[obxhead]

7. Another article about this very issue.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LC10Df02.html

[me b zola]

8. Good find

From the article you linked to:
~snip~...It turns out, however, that the picture of Marjah presented by military officials and reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as an historic turning point in the conflict.

Marjah is not a city or even a real town, but a few clusters of farmers' homes amid a large agricultural area that covers much of the southern Helmand River Valley.

[LiberalFighter]

9. According to Wikipedia

Marja (Marjah or Marjeh) is an unincorporated agricultural district. It is about 80 to 125 square miles. Larger than Cleveland or Washington in area size.