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US to Send 1,400 More Marines to Afghanistan

VOA News
06 January 2011

The United States is planning to send 1,400 more Marines to Afghanistan in an effort to solidify gains made in the push to oust the Taliban from its strongholds.

Pentagon officials said Thursday the Marines are expected to be deployed within weeks, ahead of a possible escalation in fighting during the spring.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper quotes unnamed U.S. officials as saying most of the troops will be deployed to southern Afghanistan, the site of heavy fighting against the Taliban in recent months.

In December 2009, President Barack Obama announced a surge of some 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. The new Marine deployment is in addition to that figure. There are currently 97,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Last month, the president said enough progress was being made in the war to meet his pledge of starting a withdrawal by July and handing over security to the Afghans by 2014.