US to send more troops to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis confirmed Thursday that he has signed orders to send additional troops to Afghanistan but that "it's not complete." Mattis told reporters "I've signed orders, but it's not complete. In other words, I've signed some of the troops that will go, and we're identifying the specific ones." He stressed "let me just be real clear. When you go into Afghanistan and you're carrying a gun, you're going into a combat zone." He added "by and large, this is to enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively. It's more advisers. It's more enablers -- fire support, for example." "There's always some who are going in, and probably the specific alignment of some of those forces are starting to align with the decision to put more enablers in. In other words, you'll start seeing the change, even in the forces who are there as they become more aligned to the president's new assigned mission," he remarked.
The Pentagon indicated on Wednesday that "the current total forces number in Afghanistan is approximately 11,000" and that it does not include "any potential future adjustments the Secretary of Defense may make in order to accomplish the president's new strategy for South Asia." (end) si.gta