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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| US to Pull Troops Out of West Afghanistan |
| 2005-03-15 |
| The US-led military will pull out its troops from western Afghanistan this summer and move them to the restive south and east to tackle Taleban militants, a US commander said yesterday. NATO-led peacekeepers who arrived early this month will then take over the American operations in the west, said Col. Phillip Bookert, commander of coalition forces in western Afghanistan. "I think I'm handing over a very stable situation," the colonel told reporters in Kabul, adding that the new locations for the US troops had not yet been decided. Washington has strongly pressed for the 8,300-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to expand into Afghanistan's remote and rugged west in a bid to reduce pressure on stretched American forces in Iraq and worldwide. An initial deployment of Italian troops started to arrive on March 2 in the main western city of Herat, where they will later be joined by soldiers from Spain, Greece and Lithuania. Bookert's 2,400-strong force, which includes soldiers from Afghanistan's new national army, will hand over reconstruction teams working in the provinces of Herat, Farah, Ghor and Badghis. All except Ghor border Iran in the west. One team, in Farah province, will remain under the control of US forces, the colonel said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 yup. No troops near the Iranian border, not us, nosirree..... right |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-15 7:59:02 PM |
| #7 Ahhhh, the spring thaw in the Kush has our SF buddies gearing up for another Bearded Mountain Squirrel season!!! |
| Posted by: Janos Hunyadi 2005-03-15 7:38:06 PM |
| #6 trailing wife---and the commanding officer will be named Kapitan Karma. LOL! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul In Nikolaevsk, Alaska 2005-03-15 4:15:37 PM |
| #5 And more Europeans will have seen the situation in Afghanistan, and the good we are doing there, first hand. Aris, if that's where you end up while conscripted, do remember not to debate with the locals -- I don't think that's one of their usual pleasures. And they'll react more strongly than the Rantburgers you joust with. ;-) (In the meantime, dear, I hope you've started a program of calisthenics -- it makes life so much easier if one can do the required push-ups, sit-ups, and distance running without triggering a heart attack. Your drill sergeant will still yell at you, but at least you'll have the strength to listen ;-). ) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-15 1:00:59 PM |
| #4 Anyone else read the headline as "West Virginia"? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-03-15 12:26:42 PM |
| #3 And that also means that if Iran attacks, it attacks NATO first, before it even gets near the US forces. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-03-15 10:49:09 AM |
| #2 My read is they are turning it over to the 2nd string. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-03-15 10:23:12 AM |
| #1 good, we get our troops chasing baddies, and leave the peacekeeping duties to others, and even manage to get something out of Spain and Greece. Helps with global overstretch, as well as locally. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-03-15 9:16:42 AM |