Pat Dollard | Young Americans

November 24, 2008

US military spokesman says first brigade arriving will be deployed in areas in east not currently covered

KABUL: (AFP) A brigade of 3,500 to 4,000 additional United States troops due in Afghanistan in January will be deployed in the east amid efforts to stop infiltration of Taliban from Pakistan, the US military said on Sunday.

The brigade has been approved as part of requested US troop reinforcements for Afghanistan’s fight against insurgency that could amount to around 20,000 personnel, US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian told reporters in Kabul.

Deployment: “The first brigade that is coming will go into the (NATO-led) Regional Command East and they are going to move into areas that are currently not covered,” Julian said.

The area includes about a dozen provinces, many of which are on the border with Pakistan where Taliban and Al Qaeda allegedly have training camps and safe havens.

Guards along the porous border are being trained and 165 border posts are being built as part of a drive to stop insurgents 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, launched ‘Operation Lionheart’ along the border this month.

“This operation will help to deny the enemies of Afghanistan safe havens in Pakistan,” ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Richard Blanchette said.

The Afghan government has long demanded more focus in the US-led war on terror on terrorist bases in Pakistan, and there have been more than 20 apparent US airstrikes in the area in the past few months.

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.