US to Send More Than 3,000 Troops to Afghanistan

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said yesterday that the United States will send more than 3,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Mattis told a news conference at the Pentagon he had signed the order to send more troops to the war-torn country at the end of last month. Mattis said about half of the new troops would be from the 82nd Airborne. Last month, Trump rolled out a “conditions-based approach” to assessing troop levels or further military operations in Afghanistan. At the end of last month, Mattis told reporters the reinforcements would advise and “enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively” against the Taliban and other terror groups in the country. The additional 3,000 US troops would bring the total in country to about 14,000. US troops in Afghanistan are on a two-fold mission – as part of a NATO-led operation to train and advise Afghan troops, and a counter-terrorism mission.