Security
Afghanistan: Taliban claim attack against NATO drone
Khost, 13 October (AKI) - Taliban fighters on Tuesday claimed they had shot down a pilotless NATO drone aircraft in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province, Pajhwok Afghan news agency reported. Khost borders Pakistan's volatile northwestern Kurram tribal area. The news came as US president Barack Obama was reported to be sending an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan to combat the increasingly violent Taliban-led insurgency.
The additional forces being sent to the war-wracked country in Obama's unannounced move are engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, the Washington Post daily said on Tuesday, quoting US defence officials.
The extra support troops come on top of the 21,000 combat troops authorised in March bring the total build-up Obama has approved for Afghanistan to 34,000.
The buildup has raised the number of US troops deployed to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan above the peak during the Iraq "surge" that former US president George W. Bush ordered, officials said.
The deployment does not change the maximum number of US service members expected to soon be in Afghanistan: 68,000, more than double the number there when Bush left office, the daily noted.
The report came as Obama weighs a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more forces.
Major deployments of support troops have not been publicised by the Pentagon and the White House in the past.
The troop increase approved by Obama brought the level of US forces deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters to a total greater than during the peak of the surge in Iraq in late 2007 and early 2008.
At the start of this month, some 65,000 US forces were in Afghanistan and about 124,000 in Iraq, compared to around 26,000 US troops in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq at the height of the Iraq surge in late 2007 and early 2008, according to a troop count by the Washington Post.
McChrystal commands some 103,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan including the 65,000 US troops.
The additional forces being sent to the war-wracked country in Obama's unannounced move are engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, the Washington Post daily said on Tuesday, quoting US defence officials.
The extra support troops come on top of the 21,000 combat troops authorised in March bring the total build-up Obama has approved for Afghanistan to 34,000.
The buildup has raised the number of US troops deployed to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan above the peak during the Iraq "surge" that former US president George W. Bush ordered, officials said.
The deployment does not change the maximum number of US service members expected to soon be in Afghanistan: 68,000, more than double the number there when Bush left office, the daily noted.
The report came as Obama weighs a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more forces.
Major deployments of support troops have not been publicised by the Pentagon and the White House in the past.
The troop increase approved by Obama brought the level of US forces deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters to a total greater than during the peak of the surge in Iraq in late 2007 and early 2008.
At the start of this month, some 65,000 US forces were in Afghanistan and about 124,000 in Iraq, compared to around 26,000 US troops in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq at the height of the Iraq surge in late 2007 and early 2008, according to a troop count by the Washington Post.
McChrystal commands some 103,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan including the 65,000 US troops.
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