Pentagon Raises Afghanistan Troop Estimates to 11,000
In an announcement, that Pentagon claims is for greater transparency, it declared that there were 11,000 US troops currently deployed in Afghanistan. This a significantly higher number than the previously disclosed figure of 8,400 that the US state department had disclosed. The difference between the numbers, as the US officials claimed, was because the new tally included temporary, and covert units, as well as regular forces. The Pentagon has yet to provide counts of US troops in Iraq and Syria.
The announcement comes as the Pentagon prepares to deploy as many as 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan to help defeat the Taliban. The increase is presumably a part of the new policy on Afghanistan announced by Trump last week.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has expressed frustration with the method of counting troops in conflict zones and said he would wait for a complete count in Afghanistan before making a decision on how many more to send. This is a step towards clarifying the actual number of troops.
(Based on IANS Inputs)
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