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Pentagon To Send In ‘More Than’ 3,000 Troops: Mattis

The United States will send in more than 3,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, the US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.

Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon he expected to sign an order sending the troops soon, but offered few details, US’s UPI reported.

"The president has been very clear that we are not going to broadcast to the enemy how many [troops] are going [and] where exactly they are going," he said.

"You know they are shifting to an even stronger train, advise, assist effort. I think that's plenty of transparency so that the American people know what we are doing, approximately how much of a troop commitment it is."

Mattis said about half of the new troops would be from the 82nd Airborne.

At the end of last month, Mattis told reporters the reinforcements would advise and "enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively" against the Taliban and other terror groups in the country.

The additional 3,000 US troops would bring the total in country to about 14,000.

On August 21, President Donald Trump indicated the United States must recommit to the war in Afghanistan.

"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities," Trump said.

"Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will."

US troops in Afghanistan are on a two-fold mission - as part of a NATO-led operation to train and advise Afghan troops, and a counter-terrorism mission.

 

Pentagon To Send In ‘More Than’ 3,000 Troops: Mattis

The US Defense Secretary James Mattis said he expected to sign an order sending the troops soon, but would not divulge details.

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The United States will send in more than 3,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, the US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday.

Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon he expected to sign an order sending the troops soon, but offered few details, US’s UPI reported.

"The president has been very clear that we are not going to broadcast to the enemy how many [troops] are going [and] where exactly they are going," he said.

"You know they are shifting to an even stronger train, advise, assist effort. I think that's plenty of transparency so that the American people know what we are doing, approximately how much of a troop commitment it is."

Mattis said about half of the new troops would be from the 82nd Airborne.

At the end of last month, Mattis told reporters the reinforcements would advise and "enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively" against the Taliban and other terror groups in the country.

The additional 3,000 US troops would bring the total in country to about 14,000.

On August 21, President Donald Trump indicated the United States must recommit to the war in Afghanistan.

"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities," Trump said.

"Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will."

US troops in Afghanistan are on a two-fold mission - as part of a NATO-led operation to train and advise Afghan troops, and a counter-terrorism mission.

 

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