Source:
ReutersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will send an additional force of about 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan this spring to help NATO troops and Afghan security forces confront rising Taliban violence, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The U.S. troop expansion, which increases the number of U.S. forces deployed to Afghanistan by more than 10 percent, follows months of unsuccessful U.S. efforts to persuade NATO allies to provide extra combat forces.
A Pentagon spokesman insisted that the deployment did not eliminate the need for more NATO troops and the effort to persuade allies to send more forces would go on.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan over the past two years, with the hard-line Islamist Taliban fighting a guerrilla war in the south and east and carrying out high-profile suicide and car bombings across the country.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1524207720080115
Friday, June 24, 2005; Posted: 12:28 a.m. EDT (04:28 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday defended his recent comment that the Iraqi insurgency was in its "last throes," insisting that progress being made in setting up a new Iraqi government and establishing democracy there will indeed end the violence -- eventually.<snip>
"We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan. We will stand up a new government under an Iraqi-drafted constitution. We will defeat that insurgency, and, in fact, it will be an enormous success story."
A recent surge in fighting has raised fears that an Iraq-style quagmire is developing in Afghanistan just months ahead of key legislative elections.
...more...
and just what has changed?
:banghead: