An Afghan policeman looks over an opium poppy field while on a joint patrol with U.S. Marines on March 26, 2009 near Bakwa in southwestern Afghanistan. Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment patrol daily in the area, often with Afghan police. Local opium poppy and wheat farmers say the presence of the Marines has made the region, formerly controlled by the Taliban, much safer. Some 17,000 additional U.S. forces will arrive soon to Afghanistan, with the aim of yet further extending the area of U.S. and Afghan government control into more remote areas of the country.