- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO foreign ministers approved plans Thursday to send up to 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan, a major expansion of the alliance's security mission in some of the most dangerous parts of the country.
The deployment next year of mostly European and Canadian troops will free U.S. forces to focus on counter-insurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan's volatile south and east.
"We have today agreed to move NATO's support for peace and security in Afghanistan to a new level," the ministers said in a statement.
NATO's expansion should allow the United States to scale back its 18,000-member military presence almost five years after it invaded the country following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Pentagon, however, has yet to say how many troops it will withdraw.
Full story on theCBC website: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051208/w120832.html
Although this isn't news to many of us. I think the freeing up of US Soldiers to continue the fight in Iraq while NATO shares more of the responsibility for the GWOT shows a postive reaction, particularly from the Europeans.
The deployment next year of mostly European and Canadian troops will free U.S. forces to focus on counter-insurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan's volatile south and east.
"We have today agreed to move NATO's support for peace and security in Afghanistan to a new level," the ministers said in a statement.
NATO's expansion should allow the United States to scale back its 18,000-member military presence almost five years after it invaded the country following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Pentagon, however, has yet to say how many troops it will withdraw.
Full story on theCBC website: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051208/w120832.html
Although this isn't news to many of us. I think the freeing up of US Soldiers to continue the fight in Iraq while NATO shares more of the responsibility for the GWOT shows a postive reaction, particularly from the Europeans.