The United States sends 1,400 more troops to Afghanistan

The United States agreed Thursday, 6 January 1400 to send more Marines to Afghanistan. The defense secretary, Robert Gates, has "approved the dispatch of Marines as reinforcements in southern Afghanistan to build on progress achieved and consolidated, and put the enemy under pressure during the campaign winter, "said Col.

Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, these reinforcements could arrive as early as mid-January before the spring, which is conducive to the resumption of large-scale fighting, and will be deployed in the south, around Kandahar. Further reinforcements of marines, the U.S.

military is considering more troops on the front, and total reinforcements could reach 3000 men if the plans are approved, the newspaper said. "The idea is to build on the progress we made on the ground in recent months to strengthen our pressure on the enemy when he is already under our fire," he told the newspaper the voice Pentagon, Geoff Morrell.

President Barack Obama had said in December that the conflict in Afghanistan remained a firm "very difficult" but that the U.S. was on track to achieve their goals. Mr. Obama had received a progress report on the new strategy he announced a year ago, bringing the U.S. contingent in Afghanistan to 100 000 men, more than triple the number of soldiers in this country when he took his duties in early 2009.

The reinforcements of marines are a surprise in view of preparations for a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and its allies, which should begin in July. The magnitude of the early withdrawal of U.S. forces has not yet been determined and will depend on "the situation on the ground", said Monday the German General Josef Blotzer, spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan (ISAF).

The international coalition in Afghanistan led by the United States, some 140,000 strong soldiers in total, fighting the insurgency alongside Afghan forces since late 2001 and the fall of the Taliban. The coalition has had in nine years killed nearly 2,300, of which about two-thirds are American.

According to the independent website icasualties. org, operations in Afghanistan have killed 711 foreign soldiers in 2010, by far the deadliest for coalition forces.

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