Obama quietly authorises 13,000 more troops for Afghanistan
US troops in Afghanistan. Photo from cleveland.com
In an unannounced move, US President Barack Obama is dispatching an additional 13,000 US troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced in March, FoxNews reports.
The additional troops are primarily support forces — such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, bringing the total increase Obama has approved for the war-torn nation to 34,000.
“Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000,” an unnamed defence official familiar with the process, said.
The report comes as Obama weighs a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more forces. However, the maximum number of US service members expected in Afghanistan by year’s end — 68,000 — would remain the same.
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