Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

‘US to Send Additional 4,000 Troops to Afghanistan’

‘US to Send Additional 4,000 Troops to Afghanistan’

KABUL - The Pentagon may dispatch around 4,000 more American troops to Afghanistan with the hope to break stalemate in US longest war that has now passed to a third US commander, a media report claimed on Friday.
According to the New York Times a Trump administration official said the Pentagon will send almost 4,000 additional American forces to Afghanistan
The deployment will be the largest of American manpower under Donald Trump’s young presidency.
The official says the decision by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis could be announced as early as next week.
It follows Trump’s move to give Mattis the authority to set troop levels and seeks to address assertions by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan that he doesn’t have enough forces to help Afghanistan’s army against a resurgent Taliban insurgency.
The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the decision publicly and demanded anonymity.
The Pentagon, however, has said it has not yet reached a decision on future troop levels in Afghanistan, amid speculation that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis may have finalised plans for an increase in forces to help break a stalemate with the Taliban.
"No decisions have been made," said Defense Department spokesman Jeff Davis, when asked about an Associated Press report that Mattis had decided on sending nearly 4,000 additional troops.
Still, that figure would be in line with previous comments by U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. Reuters has reported that U.S. deliberations were focussed on sending between 3,000 and 5,000 troops to Afghanistan, where American forces have been fighting for nearly 16 years.  (Pajhwok)