Agence France-Presse, 09 May 2007
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon Wednesday announced plans to keep about 25,000 troops in Afghanistan through next year amid a resurgence of the Taliban.
The Pentagon said the 101st Airborne Division will send its headquarters and a combat brigade to Afghanistan early next year to replace units returning to the United States.
The deployment plans "are a reflection of the continued US commitment to maintain two brigades in Afghanistan and to provide the level of forces sufficient military capability to support NATO-ISAF," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Despite strains on US forces because of the war in
Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided in January to beef up the US military presence in Afghanistan from one combat brigade to two to help counter a revival of the Taliban.
Currently there are about 25,000 US troops in Afghanistan, about 14,000 of them assigned to a 36,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The remaining US forces are focused on counter-terrorism and training missions.
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Citation: "Pentagon to keep beefed-up force in Afghanistan through 2008," Agence France-Presse, 09 May 2007.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070509/pl_afp/usafghanistanmilitary_070509151531
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