U.S. to send additional troops to Afghanistan
No more details from Mattis until briefing
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday that the Pentagon will dispatch additional troops to Afghanistan, where U.S.-backed security forces are stalemated in a war against the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
Mattis declined to specify how many additional troops would be heading there, but the top coalition commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has said a few thousand more troops would be required to break the stalemate in America’s longest war.
Currently about 11,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan, plus several thousand troops from co- alition partner countries.
Mattis said he would hold off on revealing details on the deployment until he has briefed members of Congress next week. He said he has begun signing deployment orders to dispatch the additional forces.
The Pentagon on Wednesday revised the number of U.S. troops it said were in Afghanistan, saying it wanted to be more transparent.
The Pentagon had said 8,400 U.S. troops were in Afghanistan under Obama administration rules that capped the number of troops authorized to be in the country. Those rules did not require the Pentagon to include any troops who were in the country on short assignments.
The Pentagon said it would weigh the efforts to be transparent about troop deployments against security concerns over publicizing troop movements and numbers that might help the enemy.
“We will balance informing the American people (with) maintaining operational security and denying the enemy any advantage,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White.
The Trump administration has given more leeway to the Pentagon to decide how many American troops to send to war zones, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. It has also allowed field commanders to make decisions without always seeking approval from Washington.
Mattis has said he wanted to hold off sending additional troops to Afghanistan until the Trump administration had decided on a broad strategy for the region.
In an August speech, Trump announced a strategy that includes supporting Afghan security forces and placing pressure on Pakistan, where many insurgent leaders have sought sanctuary.
The U.S. and coalition troops are not engaging in direct combat, but are serving as advisers to the Afghan forces.