Obama sends 17,000 more US troops into Afghanistan
PRESIDENT Barack Obama is to send 17,000 more US troops for the flagging war in Afghanistan.
It is his first significant move to change the course of a conflict that he has been told America is not winning.
In a statement he said: "This increase is necessary to stabilise a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires."
The statement was a sideswipe at his predecessor George Bush, whom Mr Obama has accused of slighting urgent national security needs in Afghanistan in favour of Iraq.
The White House said the new commander-in-chief would send a Marine unit and one additional Army brigade to Afghanistan this spring and summer.
About 8000 Marines are expected to go first, followed by an Army brigade, totalling about 4000 troops, and 5000 support forces. The US has slightly more than 30,000 troops in the country now.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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