Taliban fight: US may send 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan
 |
| Gen Nicholson visited US troops in Helmand province last month |
US
military officials and the state department are recommending sending at least
3,000 more troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, US media report.
Military leaders
would also regain the authority to target Taliban leaders with air strikes
under the proposals.
President Donald
Trump has not approved the plan, unnamed officials say. They may include a
request that other Nato countries send 3,000-5,000 soldiers.
There are 13,000
Nato troops currently in the country, 8,400 Americans.
US combat
operations against the Taliban officially ended in 2014, but special forces
have continued to provide support to Afghan troops.
In
February, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan Gen John Nicholson told a Senate committee there was "a shortfall of a few
thousand".
He said he needed
more troops to break a "stalemate".
Last
month, the Taliban announced the start of their "spring offensive" a week after killing at least 135
soldiers in a military compound.
The group said it
would use military alongside political tactics and that its main target would
be foreign forces.
Taliban
militants this week seized a district in northern Afghanistan in their ongoing attempts to take the
whole city of Kunduz. Thousands of families have been forced to leave their homes.
The BBC has learnt heard that
three key Taliban commanders, including the head of a new commando unit, have
been moved from Helmand - which is already largely Taliban-controlled - to
Kunduz for the offensive.
The previous US
President, Barack Obama, set deadlines for cutting the numbers of US soldiers
in the country and removed the Pentagon's authority to directly target Taliban
leadership.
However, he was
forced to abandon the troop reduction target.
No comments