Pk_Thunder
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,270
- Reaction score
- 0
4,000 extra US troops due near Pak-Afghan border
KABUL (updated on: November 23, 2008, 19:04 PST): A brigade of 3,500-4,000 extra US troops due in Pak-Afghan border in January will be deployed to stop infiltration of militants, the US military said on Sunday.
The brigade has been approved as part of requested US troop reinforcements for Afghanistan's fight against extremists that could amount to about 20,000 personnel, US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian told reporters in Kabul.
"The first brigade that is coming will go into the (Nato-led) RC-East (Regional Command East) and they are going to move into areas that are currently not covered," Julian said.
Guards along the porous border are being trained and 165 border posts are being built as part of a drive to stop militants entering Afghanistan, Julian said.
"We recognise that there are certain lines or avenues that the insurgents come through (from Pakistan) and we are focusing our efforts on those," he said.
International and Afghan troops along with counterparts in Pakistan this month launched "Operation Lionheart" along the border.
The Afghan government has long demanded more focus in the US-led "war on terror" on extremist bases in Pakistan, and there have been more than 20 apparent US air strikes in the area over the past few months.
There are already nearly 70,000 international soldiers in the country, but Afghan officials have called for extra troops on the border to fight a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
Julian said the top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, has asked for three combat brigades along with support elements such as intelligence and air power, which could altogether amount to 20,000 personnel.
"However they are dependent on the security situation in Iraq improving enough so those forces can be made available, and upon the agreement of the Afghan government," he said.
Taliban-led violence in Afghanistan has been on the increase every year since the 2001 US-led invasion forced the militants out of power.