A US army special force soldier takes cover as a Blackhawk helicopter transporting NATO officers lands in Marjah's Balakino Bazar neighborhood on February 24, 2010. US-led troops were inching closer to declaring victory over a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan as a senior commander said Febrruary 24 that militant resistance had fallen dramatically. Residents of the Marjah area in Helmand province were streaming out in search of food and other supplies, risking heavily-mined roads, humanitarian workers said.