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U.S. Marines headed back to Taliban hotspot 2 years after pull-out
[CBSNEWS] The United States will send some 300 Marines back into Afghanistan’s southern Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province for the first time since the end of America’s combat mission in 2014. CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick reports the Marines’ mission will be to train and advise Afghan national security forces, who have struggled to drive Taliban turbans out of the opium-rich region. The Marines’ commander, Brigadier General Roger Turner, admitted to CBS News, however, that it is a high-risk mission and the American troops will encounter the full spectrum threat from the Taliban insurgency. The 300 Marines are currently in training for the mission at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and will deploy this Spring. McCormick says about half of the Marines on this mission have been deployed to Helmand in the past. They will be located in different areas of Helmand, but some will stay at Camp Leatherneck, which was handed over to the Afghans in 2014. Posted by: Fred 2017-01-10 |
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